There are only three, four-time Defensive Player of the Year award winners in the NBA and Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves is one of them.
Gobert, 31, learned he was the league's Defensive Player of the Year award winner on Tuesday night, joining Hall of Famers Dikembe Mutmbo and Ben Wallace as the only four-time winners.
Gobert won the award in 2018, 2019, and 2021 with the Utah Jazz.
"We love to give individual awards and it's great, but you can't do it alone," Gobert told NBA on TNT right after learning he'd won the award. "I really have a lot of gratitude for Tim Connelly, Chris Finch, and all of my teammates for believing in me and allowing me to do what I do best every day."
Gobert missed game two of the playoff series against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night following the birth of his son. The Timberwolves beat the Nuggets 106-80 to take a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series.
The series comes to Target Center in downtown Minneapolis on Friday night.
"They did the job," Gobert said. "Not just did the job, they did it in incredible fashion defensively and offensively. The love that they've shown me and support they've shown me from a distance is something I'll never forget."
Friday's game between the Timberwolves and Nuggets begins at 8:30.