Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley has won the Defensive Player of the Year award. It is also known now as the Hakeem Olajuwon trophy.
Mobley’s case was built around a season of tremendous rim protection, additional responsibilities defending the perimeter, and using his overall length and mobility to be a superstar defender. He is the first player in Cavs franchise history to win the award.
“It feels great,” Mobley told TNT’s Inside The NBA after winning the award. “My feet and my movement at this size I feel like unordinary but it just feels amazing to finally get this award.”
In the 2024-25 regular season, Mobley ranked sixth in the NBA in blocked shots per game (1.6) and 13th in defensive rebounds per game (7.0). He contested 10.4 shots per game, the third most among players who played in at least 70% of their team’s games (58 of 82).
Opponents shot 44.5 percent from the field when Mobley was the closest defender, 3.2 percent lower than their expected percentage on those shots (47.7 percent). That difference was the fourth-largest among the 30 players who defended at least 1,000 shots for the season.
The Cavaliers ranked eighth in defensive rating (111.8) and third in opponents’ field goal percentage (45.4). With him on the court, Cleveland had a defensive rating of 108.6 – which would be No. 2 in the league.
Cleveland leads the Miami Heat 2-0 in the first round and Game 3 will be Saturday at 1:00 p.m. EST.
DPOY Award Is Double-Win For Mobley
By winning this award, Mobley also guaranteed himself a salary bump. His rookie contract extension that was worth nearly $224M over five years bumps up to $269M.
He was named an All-Star for the first time this season as well and an All-NBA team appearance may be in the near future, too.
Victor Wembanyama’s season ending due to a blood clot opened the door for Mobley to win the award.
DPOY Voting Played Out Fairly Close
Mobley took home 35 of 100 first-place votes but Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels wasn’t too far behind with 25. Mobley finished with 285 total points to Daniels’ 197.
Draymond Green had gained a lot of momentum after the All-Star break but finished third with 154 points and 15 first-place votes.
Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder finished fourth and the Houston Rockets’ Amen Thompson was fifth.
