Over an illustrious 21 year career, LeBron James, one of the game’s most decorated players, has achieved more than some of the game’s greats could ever dream of.
James took the league by storm in his debut NBA season winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2004 after finishing with 20.9 points, 5.9 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game. Since then, he had gone on to win four MVP awards, four NBA championships, four NBA finals MVP awards and three All-Star Game MVPs. The 39-year-old has been selected to the NBA All-Star Game on 20 occasions, the All-NBA First Team 13 times and has five All-Defensive First Team selections under his belt. There is, however, one award missing from his trophy cabinet.
On a recent episode of The Shop, James opened up about his disappointment at never winning the Defensive Player of the Year award in his career.
“That’s the only award that I don’t have in my house. It kind of stings,” said James. “It don’t make sense.”
LeBron says it doesn’t make sense that he hasn’t won DPOY, comparing it to Beyoncé never winning AOTY
"The year I finished 2nd… the guy who won Defensive Player of the Year didn't even make 1st Team All-Defense"
(@TheShopUN )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 16, 2024
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar used singer/songwriter Beyonce as a comparison to stress his point.
“How can she have the most Grammys and never won album of the year?” added LeBron
James did finished second in the DPOY voting on two occasions. He lost out to Dwight Howard in the 2008-2009 season and once again fell short in 2012-2013, finishing as the runner-up to Marc Gasol.
