NBL Best Defensive Player Award

The National Basketball League Best Defensive Player is an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given since the 1980 NBL season to the best defensive player of the regular season. As of the 2023–24 season, the head coach, assistant coach and captain of each team vote for the Defensive Player of the Year.^[1] Voters are not allowed to vote for players from their own team.^[2] The winner receives the Damian Martin Trophy, which was named in honour of Damian Martin^[3] who won the award six times.^[4][5]

Winners

Year Player Nationality Team 1980 Ray Wood  Australia West Adelaide Bearcats 1981 Ray Wood (2)  Australia West Adelaide Bearcats 1982 Phil Smyth  Australia St. Kilda Saints 1983 Phil Smyth (2)  Australia Canberra Cannons 1984 N/A N/A N/A 1985 N/A N/A N/A 1986 N/A N/A N/A 1987 Leroy Loggins  United States Brisbane Bullets 1988 Phil Smyth (3)  Australia Canberra Cannons 1989 Phil Smyth (4)  Australia Canberra Cannons 1990 Leroy Loggins (2)  United States Brisbane Bullets 1991 Terry Dozier  United States Geelong Supercats 1992 Terry Dozier (2)  United States Newcastle Falcons 1993 Terry Dozier (3)  United States Newcastle Falcons 1994 Darren Lucas  Australia South East Melbourne Magic 1995 Darren Lucas (2)  Australia South East Melbourne Magic 1996 Isaac Burton  United States Sydney Kings 1997 Mike Kelly  United States South East Melbourne Magic 1998 Mike Kelly (2)  United States South East Melbourne Magic 1998–99 Darnell Mee  United States Adelaide 36ers 1999–2000 Darnell Mee (2)  United States Adelaide 36ers 2000–01 Darnell Mee (3)  United States Adelaide 36ers 2001–02 Simon Dwight  Australia West Sydney Razorbacks 2002–03 Glen Saville  Australia Wollongong Hawks 2003–04 Ben Castle  Australia Brisbane Bullets 2004–05 Darnell Mee (4)  United States Wollongong Hawks 2005–06 Darnell Mee (5)  United States Cairns Taipans 2006–07 Sam Mackinnon  Australia Brisbane Bullets 2007–08 Chris Anstey  Australia Melbourne Tigers 2008–09 Adam Gibson  Australia South Dragons 2009–10 Dillon Boucher  New Zealand New Zealand Breakers 2010–11 Damian Martin  Australia Perth Wildcats 2011–12 Damian Martin (2)  Australia Perth Wildcats 2012–13 Damian Martin (3)  Australia Perth Wildcats 2013–14 Damian Martin (4)  Australia Perth Wildcats 2014–15 Damian Martin (5)  Australia Perth Wildcats 2015–16 Kevin Lisch  United States Illawarra Hawks 2016–17 Torrey Craig  United States Brisbane Bullets 2017–18 Damian Martin (6)  Australia Perth Wildcats 2018–19 Andrew Bogut  Australia Sydney Kings 2019–20 D. J. Newbill  United States Cairns Taipans 2020–21 Justin Simon  United States Illawarra Hawks 2021–22 Antonius Cleveland  United States Illawarra Hawks 2022–23 Antonius Cleveland (2)  United States Adelaide 36ers 2023–24 Shea Ili  New Zealand Melbourne United

References

1. ^ "NBL24 MVP finalists revealed". NBL.com.au. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
2. ^ "LISCH DETHRONES MARTIN FOR BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER". NBL.com.au. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
3. ^ "NBL to Honour Damian Martin". NBL.com.au. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
4. ^ "NBL Awards: Defensive Player of the Year". NBL.com.au. 4 March 2015. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015.
5. ^ NBL (27 February 2018). "The award may as well be named after him..." Twitter. Retrieved 27 February 2018.