Marcus Smart is the second player in Boston Celtics franchise history to win Defensive Player of the Year.
The Boston Celtics have had numerous Hall of Fame players play for their franchise. Among the list of franchise greats are two players who have won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. Let’s highlight the accomplishments of those two players that helped them earn the honor.
Kevin Garnett – 2008
The Timberwolves selected Garnett with the fifth pick in the 1995 Draft. He racked up numerous accolades with the franchise, including being named the regular season MVP of the 2003-04 season. Garnett also made 10 All-Star teams with the franchise. While he made All-Defensive First Team six times with the team, the highest he finished in the Defensive Player of the Year voting was second. With the Timberwolves being unable to win a championship during his time with the team, he was traded to the Celtics prior to the 2007-08 season.
Garnett was excellent in his first season with the Celtics, averaging 18.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. He finished third in Kia MVP voting and was named the Defensive Player of the Year, marking the only season of his career that he would win the award. He also helped the Celtics win the NBA championship that season. Across 396 career regular season games with the Celtics, Garnett averaged 15.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocks.
Marcus Smart – 2022
The Celtics selected Smart with the sixth pick in the 2014 Draft. He finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2014-15, averaging 7.8 points, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals in only 27 minutes per game. Smart was immediately an impactful player on the defensive end, averaging at least 1.5 steals in each of his first three seasons in the league. Smart made All-Defensive First Team for the first time in his career after averaging 1.8 steals per game in 2018-19. He also made All-Defensive First Team the following season, finishing sixth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Smart not only made All-Defensive First Team again in 2021-22, but he was named the Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged 1.7 steals that season, to go along with 12.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.7 three-pointers per game. Smart played a total of nine seasons with the Celtics and averaged at least 1.5 steals per game in eight of them. Following the 2022-23 season, Smart was traded to the Grizzlies. Over 581 regular season games with the Celtics, Smart averaged 10.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.6 three-pointers and 1.6 steals. He made it to the NBA Finals with the Celtics in 2022, but they lost to the Warriors in six games.
