Exclusive: After hitting rock bottom, Kris Dunn eyes All-Defensive team in career year

Trailing Klay Thompson on a pin down to the left elbow, Kris Dunn took the outside route, calculated when and where he would swipe at the ball, and went for it. The result was another deflection, interception, and pick-six for Dunn.

“Once a night,” LA Clippers lead assistant and defensive coordinator Jeff Van Gundy told ClutchPoints, referencing the play against the Dallas Mavericks on April 7th. “Once a night, he surprises me. People say, ‘how many people in the world could do that?’ One hand. One hand. That’s it. In the whole world could have made that play.”

KRIS DUNN DOIN' WHAT KRIS DUNN DOES BEST pic.twitter.com/sa6GEhewL8

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) April 8, 2026

That was just one of the 293 deflections and 129 steals that Dunn has recorded in the 2025-26 season, fifth-most and fourth-most in the NBA this season, respectively.

Now in his 10th season in the league, Kris Dunn has put it all together and has a chance to make an All-Defensive team, which he believes will lead basketball fans worldwide to view him how his peers already view him: as a terror defensively.

Kris Dunn grew up primarily playing basketball and football with his brother John, directly leading to his accelerated development as an athlete. John is five years older than his younger brother Kris, and that meant Kris was routinely playing against kids way older than him in the park or out on the field.

“I give a lot of credit to my brother, actually,” Dunn told ClutchPoints. “I’m five years younger than him and I always played up. I never played with my age group. I always played with my brother. He hated it, but they needed a fifth in order for them to play fives at the park. So I always played with the older guys and I had to pick up my game a lot quicker. So once I played with my age group, it was just like I’m playing with toddlers.”

Dunn started playing basketball with his brother at the age of six, but was highly developed as a kid playing basketball at the age of four years old.

“By the time I was like four, I could drill between my legs,” Dunn told ClutchPoints. “I was just doing stupid sh-t. All I did was play outside and I’ll just be around him all the time and watch him and watch his friends. And then we’ll go to other neighborhoods, play against other kids around the neighborhood that was older. So I was always learning without even trying.”

“We used to play football in the park and I never played with my friends. If I played with my friends, we were playing capture the flag, tag, or manhunt around the neighborhood. But when it came to sports, I was annihilating my peers because I would play with my brother’s age. And once I got into actual recreational sports like football, I was just annihilating people because I just knew things quicker than them.”

Dunn played running back and wide receiver as well as safety and defensive back, but enjoyed scoring touchdowns too much to continue playing those defensive positions. But his ability to develop football skills and instincts at an early age became critical for his basketball development.

Dunn came into the league as the fifth overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft after four strong years at Providence where he was known as a big, physical guard who could score and be a tenacious defender. Within four years, however, Dunn found himself out of the league due to multiple injuries and struggling to be a reliable shooter despite being an elite defender.

And so he decided to rebuild himself, working his way up from the NBA G League, and essentially carving a new niche for himself from scratch.

“I have such admiration for people in this game who get knocked down, nearly knocked out, but find a way to rise again,” effused Jeff Van Gundy when asked about Dunn’s unlikely career arc as a top five pick to out of the league to starter on a team with championship aspirations.

“I think he came in as the fifth pick in the draft, I’m sure he had a path in his mind and a plan for how his career was going to go, and it probably didn’t have much adversity in it. And then to stumble, fall, be out of the league, and be humble enough to fight his way back through the G League to be a significant contributor to last year’s playoff team, to this year, knock on wood, being able to play in all 82 and figure out how to help as a starter, how to help off the bench, and take this team who was in absolute disarray early through 27 games and help it find its way back on its feet… My respect for him couldn’t be greater because of the path he traveled.”

Since joining the Clippers, Kris Dunn ranks third in the NBA in total steals with 257 and third in the NBA in total deflections with 529, trailing only Dyson Daniels and Cason Wallace in both categories. Dunn credits his early football days for his advanced defensive abilities.

“I’ve loved defense since I was a kid,” Dunn explained. “I read tendencies, I read people’s mannerisms, I read eyes. And I think playing football and then playing since I was a kid and playing different sports just allowed me to read and react.

“Like offensively, I’m able to react to the defense, understand what kind of coverage this defense is in. On the defensive end, playing safety, just being able to read the quarterback’s eyes, tracking it, flying around, either batting the ball down or getting the interception, trying to house it.”

This Clippers season has felt like multiple seasons, which has been reflected in the numbers. The team started 6-21 in their first , but finally found their stride in mid-December en route to one of the best records in the league until the NBA All-Star break. But the team also made significant changes to their roster, trading away stars James Harden and Ivica Zubac, essentially ushering in a youthful transition for the franchise.

Despite the roller coasters they’ve been riding, the Clippers became the first team in NBA history to be 15 games under .500 and come back to be over .500 in the same season. They’ve continued to trend upwards, cannot finish the season with a losing record, and now somehow have a chance at a winning record with just one victory in their final two games.

While Kawhi Leonard’s offensive explosions have been the biggest reason for the Clippers season turnaround, Kris Dunn’s impact defensively simply can’t be overlooked.

Since December 20th — when the Clippers run started — Dunn is third in the NBA with 194 deflections and fourth in total steals. Led by Dunn, the Clippers have also had the second best lineup for opponent turnover ratio since December 20th, forcing 18.1 turnovers per game.

According to PBP Stats, Clippers’ opponents are outscored by 4.73 points per 100 possessions when Kris Dunn is on the floor. Dunn also leads all Clippers players in estimated defensive Plus/Minus at a team-high 1.8

Among all Clippers five-man lineups that have played at least 15 minutes since December 20th, Dunn is featured in the top three lineups in defensive rating and in 8 of the top 11, all under 100 points per 100 possessions.

And Dunn’s impact goes even beyond the numbers because of his ability to be both a strong on-ball and off-ball defender.

“He has the best anticipation I’ve seen in my time in the NBA,” Jeff Van Gundy added. “His off-ball anticipation is second to none. He’s absolutely elite breaking on the ball. I think it goes back to probably his defensive back days in football. The ability to diagnose a play, read a play, and then also break on the ball and finish it. I’ve never seen anybody like him.

“The struggle for any coach who’s ever coached him – because he’s so good on the ball and so good off the ball — is where do you try to deploy him? And what supersedes in your priority list? For us, because [Derrick Jones Jr.] is so good on the ball, when they start together, we try to play Kris a little bit more off the ball because he just has a knack for disruption. I think he uses his instincts to the greater good. I think, we’ve had trouble getting people to miss shots, but because of our turnover rate, which he is like the main focal point of that turnover rate, we’ve been able to hold our own on many nights.”

Players like Kris Dunn in the NBA are often considered opportunistic or labeled as, ‘gamblers,’ defensively when they play the passing lanes for quick steals and transition buckets. Van Gundy doesn’t agree with a player like Dunn being branded a, ‘gambler.’

“It’s interesting, what does a gamble mean? Because people always say, ‘is he gambling too much?’ And I’m like, ‘a gamble is when you start in the wrong place, execute the wrong technique, and do it at the wrong time.’ Kris’ misses are usually right time, right positioning, right technique, and he just missed it by a fraction. So I don’t believe he gambles too much.”

Last season, Dunn fell short of the eligibility requirements for end-of- season awards like Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defensive team selections. Dunn has blown through he requirements this season, playing a career-high 80 games and 77 games of at least 20 minutes. In the process, Dunn has recorded single-season career-highs in three-pointers made (79), rebounds (265), steals (129), and minutes played (2,181).

Dunn is grateful to be in the discussions as one of the better defenders in the league, and doesn’t necessarily need awards to validate how far he’s come. But the awards — especially for a first-timer — come with a newfound respect.

“I mean it would mean a lot, honestly.” Dunn said. “It would just mean a lot to me and my family, just the way my career has been, the journey. I think it would mean a lot to my peers in my community, friends that I know, just to see my journey. To be a top-five pick and hit rock bottom, to be able to climb back, to be able to start for the Clippers and then to be able to get some jewelry on my side — I like to call it jewelry — to be able to show my son one day. I think it would be awesome because I put a lot of work in to be the best defender in the league.

“I don’t want it to stop at just making First Team or Second Team. I look at myself highly as a great defender in this league and I really try at it. I also feel like it’s the one thing you could be selfish with. Because it also helps the team. I like to just try to win and do as much as I can for the team, so I think it would definitely be an honor.”

That respect and validation of earning a spot on the All-Defensive team would also come with a contract guarantee for the 2026-27 season. Dunn signed a three-year, $16.2 million deal as part of a sign-and-trade that send Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz. The final year of Dunn’s deal will be fully guaranteed if he were to be named to an All-Defensive Team in either one of his first two seasons.

“He’s going to be guaranteed regardless. I mean, I hope he makes it for him, but he’s going to be here regardless. As long as I’m here, I wasn’t Kris Dunn. He means a lot to the team, everything he brings, his unselfishness. He’s just a winner, he does all the winning things. Whether he makes it or not, which I hope he does for him, but he’ll be here.”

As part of the LA Clippers campaign to get Kris Dunn an All-Defensive Team selection, the organization put together a cookie jar (steals = cookies) with eight cookies (representing his jersey number) and an acrostics design shirt highlighting Dunn’s strengths. The shirt, designed by assistant Jeff Van Gundy, highlights Dunn’s ability to deny and disrupt as wllwe as to unite and inspire his Clippers teammates.

The Clippers went all out for the Kris Dunn All-Defensive Team campaign.

Stats are posted across Intuit Dome with these Dunn’s Desserts recipe and cookies to top it all off. pic.twitter.com/wpIcQAF4JK

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) April 8, 2026

Kris Dunn and the Clippers have a chance to reach the playoffs, which is simply absurd to think about considering where things stood in the middle of a dreadful December.

“I think [our record] is the perfect metaphor for how Kris went about his career,” Van Gundy said. “My admiration for people who take these paths of hard knocks is immeasurable.”

The post Exclusive: After hitting rock bottom, Kris Dunn eyes All-Defensive team in career year appeared first on ClutchPoints.