Cavaliers Star Forced to Speak on Defensive Player of the Year Race

Evan Mobley's Cleveland Cavaliers teammates know he's a soft-spoken guy.

So a couple of weeks removed from Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green publicly staking his claim to the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award, Mobley's teammates forced him to speak up.

"Who deserves it?" asked Darius Garland of Mobley, yelling from behind a scrum of media in the Cavaliers locker room following their 127-122 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. "Me. Four."

The response wasn't enough for the likes of Garland, who asked again, "who deserves it one more time?" A chorus of his name "Evan Mobley," followed from Donovan Mitchell and Tristan Thompson.

Evan Mobley's teammates aren't being shy about trying to get him to take a page out of Draymond Green's playbook and advocate for himself to be DPOY... pic.twitter.com/AmmOgD2rIi
— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) March 30, 2025

"What they said," Mobley answered with a laugh." A third attempt finally got the 23-year-old to crack.

"DPOY. Evan Mobley," he finally asserted softly. It was a rare attempt at self-promotion from the forward.

Earlier this season, Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama felt like a virtual lock to take home the Defensive Player of the Year award this season. That was before his campaign was abruptly ended after the discovery of deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder.

Mobley rose to focus for the award in the weeks that followed, before Green publicly campaigned for himself a few weeks back. Green's comments seemed to abruptly shift the Vegas odds in his favor as he got people talking more about his case.

Mobley's teammates are hoping to cause similar ripples by getting Mobley to speak up for himself.

Statistically speaking, Mobley's case is sound. He's nearly a full point better in defensive rating at a clip of 108.3 compared to Green's 109. He has the sixth most blocks (106) and 13th most defensive rebounds (464) in the NBA.

Green can tout having more steals (86) than Mobley (53) and he has a better defended field goal percentage, with opponents making shots 42.8% of the time against him, compared to 43.9% against Mobley.

With seven games to go, the race may just come down to who pleads their case the loudest. ISomething Mobley's teammates will surely continue to goad him into.

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