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New Orleans Pelicans forward Herb Jones finished fifth in the voting for the Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for the 2023-24 season.
The former Hale County High School and Alabama standout received 14 points in the balloting by 99 media members – two second-place votes worth six points apiece and eight third-place votes worth one point apiece.
Could the Defensive Player of the Year voting provide an indication that Jones will make the NBA’s All-Defensive team for the 2023-24 season? The Pelicans have campaigned for it with a “Not On Herb” slogan this season.
“It’s been cool,” Jones said about the efforts. “I do thank everybody who has supported me and tried to get me on the first team. But it’s a lot. I’m coming in every day and I’m seeing ‘Not On Herb’ T-shirts. It’s cool. But I try to tell the guys to calm it down a little bit. But, hopefully, I can make the first team or a defensive team. That’d be a first, and that’d be something I can continue to build on as well.”
Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert will receive the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy as the NBA’s 2023-24 Defensive Player of the Year. Gobert received 72 first-place votes (worth five points each), 24 second-place votes and one third-place vote for 433 points.
The NBA announced the award winner on Tuesday night.
Gobert became the third player in NBA history to be the Defensive Player of the Year four times, joining Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace, who prepped at Central High School in Hayneville.
Also receiving first-place votes were San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama with 19, Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis with four, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo with three and Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday with one.
Wembanyama finished second in voting with 44 second-place and 18 third-place votes for 245 points. Adebayo had 15 second-place and 31 third-place votes for 91 points. Davis had 10 second-place and 33 third-place votes for 83 points. Holiday’s only other votes were two for third place.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
