Watch: Green receives DPOY trophy from childhood idol Ben Wallace
4x Defensive Player of the Year.. Ben Wallace.. surprises @Money23Green with his 2017 #KiaDPOY hardware! #NBAPreseason pic.twitter.com/2pRqZJCMSu
— NBA (@NBA) October 1, 2017
Draymond Green just had a fanboy moment.
Ahead of the Golden State Warriors' preseason opener, the All-Star forward received his 2016-17 Defensive Player of the Year trophy from none other than his childhood idol, Ben Wallace.
Ben Wallace presents @Money23Green with his 2016-17 NBA @Kia_Motors Defensive Player of the Year award pic.twitter.com/0ZIGs51MzN
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) October 1, 2017
Over his 16-year NBA career, Wallace made six All-Defensive teams, five All-NBA rosters, and four All-Star squads. But perhaps his greatest accomplishment was becoming just the second player in NBA history to be named DPOY four times (Dikembe Mutombo was the first).
Green earned his first DPOY nod in June after leading the league in steals, registering 1.4 blocks per game, and finishing second in defensive real plus-minus while on the NBA's best team. The versatile forward, who penned an open letter to Wallace last year calling the undersized big man his inspiration, looks to continue to follow in Big Ben's footsteps by racking up more hardware.