A lot of people believe the Cleveland Cavaliers wouldn’t have been the number one seed in the East this year if it weren’t for Evan Mobley.
Mobley had a breakout season, and he was rewarded for that on Thursday when he was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.
The team celebrated Mobley on Thursday on X, reminding fans that he is the first Defensive Player of the Year in Cleveland Cavaliers’ history.
We were all Kenny in this moment.
FIRST EVER DPOY IN CAVALIER IN HISTORY. #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/q8vbBMBlf4
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) April 24, 2025
Mobley’s name has been tossed around as a potential DPOY all year.
In the end, he received 35 first-place votes, which was 10 more than the second-place contender, Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks.
Meanwhile, Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors was third, followed by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Lu Dort, the Houston Rockets’ Amen Thompson, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Ivica Zubac, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo.
This year’s race for DPOY has been wild and unpredictable.
At first, it seemed all too predictable, and Victor Wembanyama was the runaway favorite to claim it.
But when an injury took him out of the game, the race opened up to multiple stars, including Mobley.
For the season, Mobley averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds on 55.7 percent from the field.
This was his fourth regular season in the NBA and his most productive yet.
Winning DPOY is a big deal for Mobley but he won’t have much time to celebrate it.
His team is in the midst of a playoff run that could result in them winning a title.
So he is accepting this historic honor and then getting right back to work and focusing on his next game against the Miami Heat.
NEXT: Evan Mobley Has Honest Admission About Winning 1 Notable NBA Award
