NBA selects Dyson Daniels, Draymond Green and Evan Mobley as finalists for Defensive Player of the Year

Draymond Green: The matchup for me is LeBron James versus Julius Randle because the way Bron plays today isn’t the way he played with this new Laker team. So he’s going to put Julius in a lot of actions. I know early in the year that was kind of the knock on the Timberwolves was that could they get Julius to guard, I think he picked it up on that side of the ball but now Bron is going to try to expose Julius on the defensive end. -via YouTube / April 18, 2025

Draymond Green on Rockets matchup: I’m excited about the matchup. This young team has gotten a lot better and when I say gotten a lot better like you look at the team last year they were like the 14th seed or 12th seed or something like that last year. They’re hungry. They want what we’ve experienced before, you’ve been in that position before, you know exactly how they feel. You can always rewind back to like ‘man if when we were in that position’, you can put yourself in those shoes which can in a sense help you prepare in a different way because what to expect. I’m excited as hell about the matchup. We’ve played Ime Udoka in the playoffs in NBA Finals, we know what his teams bring. -via YouTube / April 18, 2025

Draymond Green: We are the underdogs. They’re the No. 2 seed. We’re No. 7. Obviously, we don’t view ourselves as an ordinary seventh seed, but it is what it is. We’re the seventh. We’ve got to start off on the road and battle test it. It’s always fun when you get the opportunity to start on the road. -via YouTube / April 18, 2025

How would you describe yourself as a leader right now, and have you evolved in that regard? Donovan Mitchell: People always look at leadership as being able to just beat them up. ‘Hey, do this. Hey do that.’ But it is also being receptive. Kenny’s first thing was like, ‘Hey, you may not be on the ball as much. We got to get push Ev. We got to push the guys around you.’ I’ve wanted to push and have others grow. That’s been the biggest thing. Now I’m starting to see how much it helps. You already know what I can do. But how well can Evan play? Can Ty [Jerome], DG, JA [Allen] mix in? Now, when it comes back to me, you’re so worried about everyone else. That’s the form of leadership where I’ve grown the most. I’ve always been the talker to motivate, but I think for me, [it’s] being able to step back, empower and go from there. -via Andscape / April 20, 2025

Darius Garland on Evan Mobley: even the numbers—the statistics—are insane. He’s almost averaging about two blocks a game. He switches one through five. He’s switching onto elite guards, switched onto bigs. And that’s what he really takes pride in—trying to defend guys his size and his length. It’s super cool just to see his abilities out there. Being a seven-footer that’s so young—that’s really good. But we really had to advocate for him a lot since he was so quiet. It was no shots at Draymond. That’s my bro. So, there was no shots at him. But Evan Mo should definitely deserve Defensive Player of the Year this year. -via YouTube / April 15, 2025

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green appears to be the frontrunner for the 2025 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. Other candidates include Dort, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley and Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels. Dort believes his elite defensive play on the NBA team with the best regular-season record merits consideration for the top award. “They can all guard. I’m pretty sure they all have great numbers,” said Dort, about the other Defensive Player of the Year candidates. “But I take a lot of pride in my matchup every time and I’m doing everything I can on my side to help my team win.” -via Andscape / April 14, 2025

NBA Communications: The three finalists for the 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award: Cade Cunningham of @DetroitPistons Dyson Daniels of @ATLHawks Ivica Zubac of @LAClippers -via Twitter / April 20, 2025

But Daniels is quick enough to stay in front of playmakers. His hands are quicker than a three-card monte hustler’s, which he attributes to playing Australian rules football as a kid. And guarding underhanded gives him another advantage. “In the NBA today, you see so many guards now trying to draw fouls, and that comes from overhand swipes. I think that sweeping through, swiping at the ball, that’s a killer,” Daniels said. “You’re putting a guy on the foul line just from silly mistakes like that. So I think for me, I’m reaching under.” -via New York Times / April 15, 2025

NBA Communications: The official 2024-25 NBA season leaders include: PPG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander RPG: Domantas Sabonis APG: Trae Young BPG: Victor Wembanyama SPG: Dyson Daniels This is the first season that the leaders in these five per-game categories are from five different countries. -via Twitter / April 14, 2025