New research reveals Jordan’s Defensive Player of the Year season likely included home-biased stats

It may be the most consequential Defensive Player of the Year award in NBA history.

In 1987-88, Michael Jordan became the first player ever to win the scoring title and the DPOY in the same season. To this day, the feat hasn’t been duplicated.

The DPOY award represented a certain validation for the 25-year-old phenom. Before Jordan was crowned, he was crushed. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls 40 years ago this week, Jordan had developed a certain level of notoriety for being too focused on scoring at the expense of winning. Fanning the flames was the fact that Jordan led the NBA in scoring the previous season but was swept in the first round against the Boston Celtics for a second straight year. A scorer, they said, but not a winning player. The Defensive Player of the Year award, voted by the media, effectively quieted those questions.

“It’s one of the goals I set for myself,” Jordan told the AP after winning the award. “I wanted to show people that I am more than just a scorer. I am a complete player.”

The award also delivered generational power, with its profound impact being felt even today when debating the legends of the game. The DPOY gave Jordan something that LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson never had: recognition for being the NBA’s best defender.

But a closer look at Jordan’s 1987-88 season reveals a substantial discrepancy between his home and road statistics, raising questions about the authenticity of his off-the-charts steals and blocks numbers that season — and shining a light on an era that seemed particularly vulnerable to the hidden hand of homer bias.

Considerable evidence — both statistical and corroborating video — suggests that Jordan’s Defensive Player of the Year award may not be as valid as we thought.

‘It just tees me off’

In 1987, Michael Jordan felt he was snubbed after not being recognized as one of the NBA’s top defenders. (NBAE via Getty Images)

With a 6-0 record in the NBA Finals, Jordan finished his career with a résumé as shiny as any human being who has stepped onto the hardwood. He was a relentless two-way superstar from the guard position — soaring above the opponent and casting shadows across an era dominated by giants. There will never be another Michael Jordan.

There’s a notion that every fiber of Jordan was consumed by winning the game. However, the six-time NBA champion also deeply cared about something else — public recognition. It wasn’t enough to be a great defender — he almost certainly was; he wanted to be known as a great defender. The man behind the and-I-took-it-personally meme was consumed by his detractors, no slight too small to turn into redemptive fuel.

In 1986-87, Jordan’s third season in the league, he was incensed that coaches left him off the All-Defensive teams even though Jordan became the first player in NBA history to register at least 200 steals and 100 blocks in the same season. In particular, it irritated Jordan that Michael Cooper of the Los Angeles Lakers won Defensive Player of the Year in 1986-87, garnering 25 of the 78 votes, while Jordan received just one.

Jordan made sure his discontent was known. In an 18-page Sports Illustrated feature in which SI writer Curry Kirkpatrick entrenched himself inside Jordan’s growing empire, the Chicago Bulls star expressed deep resentment about his lack of recognition. In particular, Jordan called out the voting contingency about its apparent disregard for box-score statistics like blocks and steals.

“Michael Cooper is great at ball denial,” Jordan told SI. “But check his other stats. This league gives defensive awards on reputation. It just tees me off.”

The shot at Cooper set the tone for Jordan’s vengeful 1987-88 season. Determined to be known as the best defender in the game, Jordan’s DPOY campaign started off with a bang. On opening night, two days before the Sports Illustrated issue hit newsstands across America, Jordan tallied six steals and four blocks in a win against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Chicago Bull registered another six-steal game later that month. And another. In late January against the lowly New Jersey Nets, Jordan posted a career-high and franchise-record 10 steals. He didn’t even play the fourth quarter.

Jordan walks off the court after a victory against the New Jersey Nets at Chicago Stadium in January 1988. (Raymond Boyd via Getty Images)

The mission consumed him. After the history-making Nets game, he openly admitted to hunting for steals so he could break the record.

“I knew I was close, and I asked to find out what the record was,” Jordan told the Chicago Tribune that night. “I was on a roll. I was going for it, reaching for everything.”

Jordan didn’t stop reaching. By the end of the season, he led the league with 259 steals, displacing San Antonio guard Alvin Robertson, who topped the leaderboard in each of the previous two seasons. In 1987-88, Jordan also led all guards with a breathtaking 131 blocks. The next-highest total for a guard? Robertson’s 69, almost half of Jordan’s total.

At season’s end, sportswriters looking at the statistical leaderboards were overwhelmed with gaudy per-game numbers next to Jordan’s name: 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks. To this day, it’s never been matched.

The eye-popping stats propelled Jordan to his first Defensive Player of the Year award, earning 37 votes from writers, besting rim-protecting centers Mark Eaton (9) and Hakeem Olajuwon (7).

For almost four decades, Jordan’s lone DPOY has stood unquestioned. We took a deeper look after a recent discussion with a man named Alex Rucker, who pulled back the curtain on the complicated role of an NBA home statkeeper.