Between the 1979-80 and 1988-89 seasons, Rex Chapman had the highest defensive rating by a guard, with a 114.8 rating.

Interpreted as:

highest def rating with a minimum of 1000 minutes played per 82 team games guard 1980s

	NAME	DRTG	GP	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	TS%	OREB	DREB	TPG	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF
1	Rex Chapman R. Chapman	114.8	75	29.6	16.9	2.5	2.3	0.9	0.3	7.0	16.9	41.4	0.8	2.5	31.4	2.1	2.6	79.5	46.7	1.0	1.5	1.5	2,219	1,267	187	176	70	25	113	167
2	Rod Higgins R. Higgins	114.2	68	32.2	15.5	4.3	2.8	1.0	0.5	5.6	10.7	52.6	0.3	0.6	48.7	4.0	4.7	84.8	60.8	1.4	2.9	1.6	2,188	1,054	293	188	70	31	111	188
3	Jon Sundvold J. Sundvold	113.9	412	18.7	8.2	1.2	3.3	0.5	0.0	3.5	7.7	45.9	0.4	1.1	37.7	0.8	0.9	84.5	50.8	0.3	0.9	1.2	7,711	3,387	474	1,341	188	5	492	519
4	Kenny Smith K. Smith	113.6	142	37.4	15.8	2.6	7.4	1.4	0.1	6.2	13.2	46.8	0.4	1.2	34.7	3.0	4.0	76.6	52.8	0.6	1.9	3.0	5,315	2,244	364	1,055	194	15	433	313
5	Johnny Dawkins J. Dawkins	113.5	178	27.8	13.0	2.7	5.6	1.2	0.0	5.1	11.2	45.8	0.2	0.6	29.5	2.5	2.9	86.1	51.9	0.9	1.8	2.2	4,944	2,316	474	994	210	5	385	277
6	Leon Wood L. Wood	113.2	234	17.6	6.9	1.2	3.3	0.5	0.0	2.4	6.0	39.4	0.7	2.0	33.3	1.5	1.9	78.3	50.2	0.3	0.9	1.1	4,109	1,611	285	771	116	4	259	263
7	Geoff Huston G. Huston	113.2	496	24.7	8.8	1.4	5.1	0.7	0.1	3.7	7.7	48.3	0.0	0.1	25.4	1.4	2.0	70.8	51.7	0.4	1.0	1.8	12,252	4,380	684	2,509	331	32	899	844
8	Terry Teagle T. Teagle	112.9	373	19.9	10.6	2.2	1.4	0.7	0.2	4.4	9.5	46.5	0.1	0.3	23.1	1.7	2.2	77.5	50.7	0.9	1.3	1.5	7,439	3,957	806	508	250	78	547	814
9	Derek Smith D. Smith	112.8	304	27.1	14.8	3.6	2.5	0.8	0.5	5.8	11.5	49.9	0.1	0.4	25.4	3.2	4.2	76.2	55.3	1.3	2.3	2.0	8,250	4,500	1,090	750	229	150	603	973
10	Scott Brooks S. Brooks	112.8	82	16.7	5.2	1.1	3.7	0.8	0.0	1.9	4.5	42.0	0.7	1.9	35.9	0.7	0.8	88.4	53.3	0.2	0.9	0.8	1,372	428	94	306	69	3	65	116
11	Tony Brown T. Brown	112.7	87	28.4	10.6	2.7	3.1	1.1	0.2	4.3	9.8	44.2	0.1	0.3	22.7	1.9	2.5	73.5	48.5	1.0	1.7	1.8	2,471	918	235	273	94	15	157	289
12	Chris Mullin C. Mullin	112.6	137	27.5	14.7	2.2	2.7	1.2	0.4	5.6	11.3	49.4	0.2	0.7	26.7	3.3	3.9	85.3	56.3	0.6	1.6	1.7	3,768	2,010	296	366	168	59	229	347
13	Kenny Higgs K. Higgs	112.4	148	22.9	7.6	2.0	5.4	1.2	0.1	2.8	6.4	43.6	0.1	0.4	14.5	2.0	2.5	81.6	51.2	0.3	1.6	2.2	3,385	1,131	289	803	173	12	322	506
14	John Roche J. Roche	112.4	147	23.1	9.2	1.2	4.3	0.8	0.1	3.4	7.3	47.1	0.6	1.4	38.9	1.8	2.2	82.3	55.8	0.2	1.0	1.6	3,398	1,350	175	634	114	22	240	223
15	Marques Johnson M. Johnson	112.3	75	34.7	20.3	5.5	3.8	1.4	0.7	8.2	16.0	51.0	0.0	0.2	6.7	4.0	5.2	76.0	55.5	2.1	3.5	2.4	2,605	1,525	416	283	107	50	183	214
16	Rolando Blackman R. Blackman	112.3	630	33.7	19.2	3.7	3.1	0.7	0.3	7.4	14.8	50.3	0.1	0.3	27.2	4.3	5.1	83.3	56.4	1.2	2.4	2.0	21,258	12,127	2,308	1,954	472	196	1,234	990
17	Hersey Hawkins H. Hawkins	112.3	79	32.6	15.1	2.8	3.0	1.5	0.5	5.6	12.3	45.5	0.9	2.1	42.8	3.1	3.7	83.1	54.4	0.6	2.2	2.0	2,577	1,196	225	239	120	37	158	184
18	John Paxson J. Paxson	112.2	443	21.7	7.1	1.2	3.9	0.6	0.0	3.0	6.2	48.5	0.4	1.1	33.3	0.8	1.0	80.0	54.0	0.2	1.0	0.9	9,602	3,160	532	1,716	278	22	416	859
19	Eric Money E. Money	112.2	61	25.4	10.3	1.7	4.2	0.9	0.2	4.5	9.0	50.0	0.0	0.0		1.4	1.7	78.3	53.1	0.5	1.2	2.5	1,549	629	104	254	53	11	155	146
20	Dale Ellis D. Ellis	112.2	239	37.9	26.1	4.7	2.5	1.2	0.3	10.1	19.9	50.7	1.5	3.5	42.4	4.5	5.6	79.1	58.3	2.1	2.6	2.6	9,053	6,232	1,129	599	286	65	628	685
21	Ledell Eackles L. Eackles	112.1	80	18.2	11.5	2.3	1.5	0.5	0.1	4.0	9.2	43.4	0.1	0.5	22.5	3.4	4.3	78.6	51.9	1.3	1.0	1.6	1,459	917	180	123	41	5	128	156
22	Othell Wilson O. Wilson	112.1	127	16.1	4.2	1.7	3.3	0.9	0.1	1.7	3.7	45.4	0.0	0.3	17.6	0.8	1.0	74.6	50.2	0.5	1.2	1.4	2,049	535	212	424	119	16	172	189
23	Freeman Williams F. Williams	112.0	251	21.6	15.9	1.6	1.7	0.8	0.1	6.5	14.0	46.2	0.5	1.5	33.1	2.5	3.0	83.0	52.0	0.8	0.8	1.9	5,411	3,992	412	433	205	16	469	445
24	Billy McKinney B. McKinney	111.9	398	20.0	8.1	1.5	3.5	0.7	0.1	3.3	6.7	49.1	0.0	0.1	6.3	1.5	1.8	82.6	53.8	0.3	1.2	1.3	7,947	3,214	592	1,408	295	37	513	739
25	Ron Boone R. Boone	111.8	133	26.6	10.6	2.3	3.5	1.0	0.1	4.2	9.7	43.9	0.2	0.7	33.7	1.9	2.2	86.2	49.9	0.5	1.8	2.3	3,538	1,410	311	470	130	11	308	358