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The major award winners for the 2021-22 NBA season won't be announced until later in the playoffs, but votes were due shortly after the regular season concluded and the results have been tallied. Over the weekend, the league announced the finalists for every single honor. 

While the contentious MVP debate has taken up most of the headlines, Defensive Player of the Year has also been hotly contested. Draymond Green likely would have won with ease if he didn't get hurt but he missed too many games. Likewise, Bam Adebayo had a great case but also missed a large chunk of games. As a result, neither will win the award. 

The three finalists are: 

On Monday, fresh off a comfortable Game 1 win over the Atlanta Hawks in their first-round playoff series, Adebayo told reporters he was not aware that he failed to make the cut because he "deleted social media." After finding out, he said it was "disrespectful" not to be included, blamed a lack of national TV games for the voting results and said the moment ranks "at the top" in terms of the chips on his shoulder.  

"I feel like I can do anything that two out of the three can do. I mean, I can't teach height," Adebayo said. "But they all three play on TV more than me. So I would expect that. They get more TV games, and they get more exposure. People like to talk about them more. Nobody wants to talk about us. So it's whatever at that point.. I feel like that's why a lot of dudes do get a lot of awards, in my opinion. They're always on TV, getting to showcase their talent, and so happen to have good games."

Heat head coach, Erik Spoelstra, offered fervent support for Adebayo, and predicted that one day the award will be his. 

"I'm just really stunned that Bam is not a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year," Spoelstra said. I don't know what people are watching. That's probably the biggest disappoint, the one disappointment of the year. And that's a shame. But if he continues to do this, eventually you give people no choice but to recognize what he's capable of doing."

There's no debate about Adebayo's ability on the defensive end. He has the size, strength, athleticism and mobility to protect the rim and switch out onto smaller players on the perimeter. His versatility is largely unmatched and was a major reason the Heat had the fourth-best defense in the league this season, allowing just 108.4 points per 100 possessions. 

The only problem for Adebayo is that he got hurt. He tore a ligament in his thumb in late November and ended up missing six weeks after undergoing surgery. After a few other missed games here and there, he finished the season with a career-low 56 games. Some may feel that's a big enough sample size, but not enough voters agreed. 

It's hard to argue with those who favor availability in a close race, and major award winners typically play a majority of the games. But for what it's worth there is a precedent Adbayo can point to. In 2018, Gobert won his first Defensive Player of the Year award while playing 56 games, the same number as Adebayo this season.