NBA: The 5 best candidates to never win an individual league award

Defensive Player of the Year: LeBron James

People may have forgotten just how dominant LeBron James was on defense for the Miami Heat and the last years of his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Those teams were all elite, and he was the best, and most versatile, defensive player on all of them.

When he was with the Heat, it was common for him to guard 1-5 in a single game.

While he was perhaps never the best defensive player in a given season, his consistent greatness on defense over a five-year span was absolutely phenomenal. Perhaps it’s fitting that none of his teams have finished with the league’s best defensive rating, but between 2008-2013 they were always top 10 if not top 5.