Austin Rivers makes passionate case for guards to win DPOY, shockingly claims Avery Bradley and Patrick Beverley should've won it in their primes

Austin Rivers is still searching for a landing spot since the free agency this offseason. He recently appeared on the latest edition of The Bill Simmons Podcast. The former Minnesota Timberwolves guard decided to vent his frustration over the constant neglect of the guards from the Defensive Player of the Year conversation.

Rivers, a 31-year-old veteran, has played for seven teams in his decade-long career feels like when it comes to the prestigious award for defense, guards are often neglected. Rivers said guards carry most of the full-court and perimeter defense for the team.

“When you talk about on a nightly basis, the bulk of the scoring for every team throughout the league is done by guards, wings," he said. "So why wouldn't the Defensive Player of the Year continually go to the guys who have to guard these guys.”

“It's like a thing that the defensive player of the year has to be a center or has to be a big man," Austin Rivers objected. "When we are the ones chasing Steph Curry, we are the ones getting hit by screens, we are the one being left on the island with Kyrie, we got the hardest job.”

Austin Rivers added that guard players like him have the hardest job on the defense from fighting the screens to guarding shifty players like Stephen Curry and skilled stars like Kyrie Irving. Rivers also noted that when Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart won DPOY in 2022, he was the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton in 1996.

Austin Rivers thinks Avery Bradley and Patrick Beverley should have won DPOY in their prime

Rivers said that players like Avery Bradley and Patrick Beverley are two guards who should have won the Defensive Player of the Year award at least once in their careers.

“Avery Bradley was consistently the best defender in the NBA for like a good little stin," he said. "No joke. He had like a four-five-year span where he was the best perimeter defender in the NBA.”

“Pat Beverley in his younger days when he was like Rockets Pat early Clippers Pat, should have won one,” Rivers makes his case.

Bradley and Pat Bev have been previously hailed among the best perimeter defenders in the league. What is even more startling is the fact that Bradley and Beverley, both being consistent top on-ball and perimeter defenders in the league, have been on the NBA All-Defensive First Team only one time in their careers.

While Austin Rivers’ claim is far from both Pat Bev's and Bradley’s career accolades, it puts the perimeter and full-court defense's credibility in question.