Draymond Green has lately been campaigning to win the Defensive Player of the Year award and has seemingly emerged as the favorite for it now. Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland has taken issue with that, as he fired shots at Green and explained why his teammate Evan Mobley should win DPOY.
“He doesn’t hack, he doesn’t scream at the refs, he goes [and] blocks shots,” Garland said. “His deflection numbers is out the roof. He guards one through five. I mean, what doesn’t he do? He just doesn’t express it how other people express it.
“If you look at the numbers, if you watch a Cavs game, you see all the impact that he does for us on both sides of the ball, just not defense,” Garland continued. “But, since we’re on DPOY, blocks, deflections, switching out one through five on elite guards. It’s really a guard league right now, and he’s switching out on some of the top guards in the league, and really holding his own.
“We all staying at home when he gets a switch,” Garland continued. “That’s how much confidence we have in him. So, that’s just a little bit of my case. I can go on Twitter, and go on podcasts, and do the same thing for my boy. But, I’mma let him talk his talk whenever he wants to.”
Mobley became one of the favorites for DPOY after Victor Wembanyama was ruled out for the season during the All-Star break due to deep vein thrombosis. He and Jaren Jackson Jr. were leading the race, but the latter started to lose ground as the Memphis Grizzlies struggled after the break.
Mobley looked set to win DPOY at one point, but Green then entered the picture and overtook him in the race. The lobbying might have helped with that. Green recently stated on NBA Today that 2025 is his last best chance to win DPOY, and he believes he should win it. To his credit, he’s been defending at a high level for the Golden State Warriors, too.
While Green has made a great push post the break, Mobley has been outstanding all season long. The 23-year-old is a big reason why the Cavaliers sit atop the standings in the East with an exceptional 63-17 record. Following Garland’s comments, Mobley was asked to make a case for himself to win the award.
“What he said is a lot of it,” Mobley said. “My biggest thing is a guy my size, my wingspan, my agility; you don’t really see that in the contenders. There’s nobody even close to that. And also the stats, as well, I mean speak for itself. The blocks, the fouls, I mean, I don’t foul. Steals, deflections, also, people don’t even go up against me in the paint, so that’s not even a stat. There’s a lot.”
Mobley is averaging 18.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game in 2024-25. The Cavaliers rank eighth in defensive rating (112.0) thanks, in large part, to the one-time All-Star.
Mobley finished third in DPOY voting in 2023 and would be hoping he comes out on top this time. As for Green, he won the award back in 2017 and has finished in the top five in voting on four other occasions.
