The three contenders for The 2022 Defensive Players of the Year award included Mikal Bridges Marcus Smart, and Rudy Gobert. As announced earlier this week, Marcus Smart is the first guard since Gary Payton to win the honourable award with NBA 2K23 MT.

There's been much debate about who should have received the prize this year. For instance, Bam Adebayo showed discontent about not being selected as an official finalist. Two-time previous award winner Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn't in the cut, either. Rudy Gobert, who has won the award multiple times did not make it.

The first round had few unexpected surprises as the elite teams defeated their opponents with relative ease. The matchups featuring teams closer in the rankings were thrilling, especially that of the Mavericks and Jazz pair, which played through all seven games in spite of having no NBA 2K23 cover player Luka Doncic in the first game and two.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the seventh seed Brooklyn Nets defeating the second-seed Boston Celtics in six games, mostly because the Celtics are already 2-0 in the opening round. The one prediction that is most likely to be fulfilled is the Philadelphia 76ers taking down over the Toronto Raptors, as the series is currently 3-0 to Philadelphia's favorable direction.

The important question to ask is, what qualities or stats play the biggest role in determining the most effective defensive player? A contributor from Bleacher Report explains that the best defensive player is the one who is successful both on his own and as part of a system. I agree and believe the most effective defensive player is everywhere on the court, and not just on the paint or in the perimeter.

NBA 2K23 is video game that allows you to reproduce the real-world effects of NBA players. As an avid player of the game, I decided to focus on the most important defensive traits from the game in order to determine which player is the best defensive of the three contestants.

The four attributes listed include Perimeter Defense, Interior Defense, Help Defense IQ, and Defensive Consistency as well as Defensive Consistency with NBA 2K Coins. The player with the highest total score of those categories was determined to be the winner. Below is how each candidate did.