Sunday evening, the league made the official announcement that the Chicago Bulls' Center, Joakim Noah, was the winner of the award, presented by the league and corporate sponsor, Kia Motors.
The trophy presentation took place on Monday with Bulls GM Gar Forman, Head Coach Tom Thibodeau, and Joakim Noah's family in attendence.
After receiving the award, Jo made a heartfelt speech which honored his teammates, Coach Thibs, and his basketball influences, including his mentor, Tyrone Green, who recently passed.
Noah, 29, averaged 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals this season for Chicago, including 4 Triple-Doubles.
But as was acknowledged several times during the trophy presentation, Joakim's impact goes beyond individual numbers.
The numbers that may have put Joakim over the top in the voting were his role in making the Chicago Bulls the NBA's best defense (once again) and the 48 wins the Chicago Bulls were able to get despite no Derrick Rose and the trade of Luol Deng.
Here is video of the Defensive Player of the Year trophy presentation and Joakim's acceptance speech:
Here are all the top vote-getters and their final vote count for DPOY:
Joakim Noah: 555
Roy Hibbert: 166
DeAndre Jordan: 121
Serge Ibaka: 79
Andre Iguodala: 47
LeBron James: 31
Paul George: 30
Anthony Davis: 25
Dwight Howard: 25
Andrew Bogut: 11
Kawhi Leonard: 9
P.J. Tucker: 6
Tim Duncan: 5
Chris Paul: 5
Trevor Ariza: 4
Marc Gasol: 4
Patrick Beverley: 2
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