Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley wins Defensive Player of the Year award

After anchoring the Cleveland Cavaliers to the top seed in the Eastern Conference, Evan Mobley picked up some hardware for his efforts.

The Cavaliers’ fourth-year forward took home the NBA’s 2024-25 Defensive Player of the Year award, the league announced on Thursday night.

Mobley is the first player in franchise history to win DPoY. The 23-year-old twice took home Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month honours en route to winning the season-long award. He racked up 34 multi-block games — third-most in the East — and his 1.6 rejections per game ranked fourth in the NBA (min. 65 games).

Mobley beat out fellow finalists Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors) and Dyson Daniels (Atlanta Hawks). He previously finished third in voting two seasons ago. The award was voted on earlier this month by a global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league.

Aside from his proficiency as a rim deterrent, Mobley showed plenty of defensive versatility away from the basket as well — sitting fifth in the league this year at 3.2 contested three-point shots per game. Since he was drafted third overall by the Cavs in 2021, Mobley’s one of just four players to record at least 400 blocks and 200 steals.

The USC product spearheaded a Cleveland defence that was seventh in the NBA for the season and third in opponent field goal percentage (45.4).

Mobley’s offensive leap was worth noting as well, as the big man averaged career highs in scoring (18.5 points per game), field goal percentage (58.3) and three-point makes (1.2) en route to a first-ever all-star nod. His efforts on both ends played a big part in Cleveland finishing the season with a stellar 64-18 record, second-most in franchise history.

The Cavaliers continue their first-round series against the Heat in Miami on Saturday, looking to take a commanding 3-0 lead.