The season-ending injury of Victor Wembanyama, the presumptive leader of this year’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year race, has robbed the 21-year-old French sensation of eligibility to win the league’s end of season awards. Wembanyama’s setback is devastating, but it has also made the battle to win the league’s top defensive award much more interesting.

Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley now find themselves in a tight battle to win the award, with both putting up impressive campaigns that are equally deserving. Curiously, these two players’ teams have an identical defensive rating of 111 at the moment, good for the seventh best in the league, and they both have personal defensive ratings of 106.6 which is 10th among all players (Minimum of 40 games played and 20 minutes per game).

The 6’10 Jackson, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year back in 2023, has been the defensive backbone of the resurgent Grizzlies who are currently second in the Western Conference with a 37-19 record. Through his first 54 appearances for Memphis this season, Jackson is averaging six rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.7 blocks per game to go with a career-high 22.8 points per game.

Jackson’s steals and blocks numbers are better than Mobley’s–0.9 assists and 1.6 blocks a night in 50 games so far–but he can counter with the Cavaliers’ league-leading 46-10 record. Mobley is also a significantly better rebounder (9.2 per game) and is seventh in the league in contested shots per game with 10.1 (Jackson averages 8.2).

The dark horse third contender in this race is the Atlanta Hawks’ Dyson Daniels who is averaging three steals per game and has earned the catchy nickname “The Great Barrier Thief”. He is also the league-leader in deflections (6.1) by a mile, significantly outpacing second place Herb Jones’ 4.5. However, his exploits are subdued by the Hawks’ poor defensive showing as a team (16th in defensive rating) and their sub par record (26-30).

Ultimately, Jackson may have the edge here as Mobley’s case might be diminished in the eyes of some because he plays alongside another elite big man, Jarrett Allen. Together, Mobley and Allen have formed a powerful interior duo that has been one of the major reasons why the Cavaliers have played so well this season. On the contrary, Jackson stands out as the lone elite defensive presence left on the Grizzlies.

With roughly 20 games remaining for each team in the regular season, this race is far from decided. Jackson, Mobley, and even Daniels still have time to make a case for themselves and sway voters in their direction. Given that Wembanyama could dominate this award for years to come once he returns, this may be their best shot for the next several years at adding a Defensive Player of the Year trophy to their résumés.