NEW YORK — The San Antonio Spurs' Kawhi Leonard, who helped the team finish with the NBA's top defense this season, is the recipient of the 2015-16 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, the NBA announced today. Leonard, a 6-7 forward, becomes the first non-center to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons since Dennis Rodman in 1989-90 and 1990-91.
Leonard received 84 first-place votes and 547 total points from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. He edged the Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green, who tallied 44 first-place votes and 421 points to finish as runner-up for the second season in a row. The Miami Heat's Hassan Whiteside was third with 83 points (two first-place votes). Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.
A first-time NBA All-Star this season, Leonard contributed to a San Antonio defense that led the NBA in points allowed (92.9 ppg) and defensive rating (96.6 points per 100 possessions). The Spurs, a franchise-record 67-15 this season, were even stingier on defense with Leonard in the game: According to NBA.com/Stats, they had a defensive rating of 94.9 when the five-year veteran was on the court and 99.2 when he wasn't -- a difference of 4.3 points per 100 possessions. Leonard also averaged 1.78 steals (12th in the NBA), 5.5 defensive rebounds and a career-high 0.99 blocks to go with career highs on offense of 21.2 points and 2.6 assists.
As part of its support of the Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, Kia Motors America (KMA) will donate a brand new Sorento CUV to Children's Bereavement Center of South Texas -- which has provided grief-support programs for area children since 1997 -- on Leonard's behalf. Kia will present a 2016 Sorento to the charity of choice of each of five 2015-16 year-end award winners as part of the Kia NBA Performance Awards. Following this season, Kia will have donated a total of 43 new vehicles to charitable organizations since its support of the NBA's prestigious honors began in 2008.
Below are the balloting results for the 2015-16 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. The balloting was tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP.
2015-16 KIA NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR RESULTS
Player | Team | 1st place (5 pts) | 2nd place (3 pts) | 3rd place (1 pt) | Total Points
Kawhi Leonard | San Antonio Spurs | 84 | 41 | 4 | 547
Draymond Green | Golden State Warriors | 44 | 62 | 15 | 421
Hassan Whiteside | Miami Heat | 2 | 12 | 37 | 83
DeAndre Jordan | Los Angeles Clippers | 0 | 7 | 29 | 50
Paul Millsap | Atlanta Hawks | 0 | 3 | 12 | 21
Avery Bradley | Boston Celtics | 0 | 1 | 11 | 14
Rudy Gobert | Utah Jazz | 0 | 1 | 10 | 13
Tony Allen | Memphis Grizzlies | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5
Anthony Davis | New Orleans Hornets | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4
Andre Drummond | Detroit Pistons | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3
Jimmy Butler | Chicago Bulls | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2
LeBron James | Cleveland Cavaliers | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2
Trevor Ariza | Houston Rockets | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
Jae Crowder | Boston Celtics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
Al Horford | Atlanta Hawks | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
Kyle Lowry | Toronto Raptors | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
Chris Paul | Los Angeles Clippers | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
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