On Thursday night, the NBA announced that Cleveland Cavaliers forward/center Evan Mobley has been named the 2024-25 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Mobley becomes the first player in franchise history to win the award and one of only five players in NBA history to earn the honor before the age of 24.
Mobley, who was age 23 years and 299 days on the final day of the regular season, helped Cleveland finish with a 64-18 record and the top seed in the Eastern Conference for just the fourth time in team history.
The 2025 NBA All-Star and two-time Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month winner (December and February) appeared in 71 games (all starts), averaging a career-best 18.5 points on .557 shooting from the field, including .370 from three-point range, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.86 steals and 1.59 blocks in 30.5 minutes per contest.
Mobley was the only player in the NBA to tally at least 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 60 steals, and 100 blocks this past regular season, and ranked fifth in the NBA in blocks per game, fifth in plus/minus (+546, best in East), fifth in contested shots per game (10.4), 12th in field goal percentage and 16th in rebounds per game. Mobley’s efforts propelled the Cavaliers to the NBA’s No. 8 defensive rating (111.8), including the third-best mark in opponent field goal percentage (.454).
Since entering the league in 2021-22, Mobley already ranks eighth in Cavaliers history in total blocks (419) and was an NBA All-Defensive First Team selection in 2022-23.
The Cavs, who have a 2-0 lead over the Heat in their first-round series, travel to Miami to play the Heat in Game 3 on Saturday.
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