In an offensive-centric league of today, defense can still be a difference-maker — and Evan Mobley proved it with authority.
Mobley claimed the 2025 NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors after emerging as key cog of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ ascension to the top of the East this season.
The 2024-25 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year is... Evan Mobley!#NBAAwards | #KiaDPOY | @Kia
— NBA (@NBA) April 24, 2025
The lanky 7-footer beat Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green and Atlanta Hawks’ Dyson Daniels to earn the prestigious Hakeem Olajuwon trophy.
A global media panel of 100 voters selected the winner of the 2024-25 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 24, 2025
The complete voting results ?? pic.twitter.com/7eH65d7erV
He also became the first player in franchise history to win the award. Mobley joined an elite list featuring Jaren Jackson Jr. (2023), Kawhi Leonard (2015), Dwight Howard (2009), and Alvin Robertson (1986) as the only 23-year-olds to nab the honors since its inception in the 1982-1983 season.
“It feels great. My feet and my movement at this size I feel like [are] unordinary, but it just feels amazing to finally get this award,” Mobley said on TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’ after the announcement had been made.
The fourth overall pick in the 2021 Draft ranked sixth in blocks (1.6) and 13th in defensive rebounds (7.0) while anchoring the Cavaliers’ top-tier defense all season long.
With Mobley patrolling the paint and switching out onto perimeter threats, Cleveland possessed a defensive rating of 108.6 — the second-best in the league.
A first-time All-Star this year, Mobley’s impact wasn’t limited to one side of the court.
He averaged 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 71 regular season games, propelling the Cavaliers to a 64-18 record—the second-best in franchise history—and the East top playoff seed.
Cleveland currently holds a commanding 2-0 series lead in their round 1 duel with the eight-seed Miami Heat.
