MEMPHIS — Memphis Grizzlies power forward/center Jaren Jackson Jr. became the second-youngest Defensive Player of the Year winner in NBA history.
The league announced Monday evening that Jackson, 23, won the honor, finishing ahead of Cleveland’s Evan Mobley and Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez in voting by a media panel.
Jackson joins Alvin Robertson, Kawhi Leonard and Dwight Howard as the only 23-year-olds to win the award. Only Howard, by a matter of a few months, was younger than Jackson when they received the honor. Jackson led the league in blocked shots (3.0 per game) for the second consecutive season while anchoring the NBA’s third-ranked defense (110.7 points per 100 possessions).
The Grizzlies allowed only 106.6 points per 100 possessions with Jackson on the floor and opponents shot only 44.0% in the paint when Jackson was the closest defender, which ranked as the stingiest in the league among rotation players.
Jackson joined an exclusive group of players who have averaged at least three blocks and one steal per game for a top-five defense in the four decades that the Defensive Player of the Year has existed. The only three other players who have done so are Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Ben Wallace, who combined to win four Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Jackson is the second player in Grizzlies franchise history to win the honor. Former Memphis center Marc Gasol was the 2012-13 Defensive Player of the Year.