After Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley was crowned the Defensive Player of the Year in the 2024-25 campaign, he will try to become just the 11th player in NBA history to win the award multiple times once the coming season kicks off.
According to results from a panel of experts at ESPN who recently voted on the six major awards, Mobley has a real puncher’s chance to win back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards, as he received the second-most points of any player to take home the hardware in the 2025-26 season.
“Deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder essentially robbed [San Antonio] Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama of winning his first NBA Defensive Player of the Year award last season because the 21-year-old failed to meet the 65-game threshold for eligibility when he was shut down on Feb. 20,” Michael C. Wright wrote. “Despite playing in just 46 games last season, Wembanyama led the league in blocks (176) by a wide margin over second-place finisher Brook Lopez (148 blocks). Plus, he averaged 1.1 steals for a Spurs defense that owned a defensive rating of 115.4 with him on the floor (121.4 without).
“If Wembanyama plays in league-required 65 games this season, it would be a surprise if he didn’t snatch the award by a landslide ahead of reigning DPOY Evan Mobley and other contenders such as Chet Holmgren, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert.
“A one-time DPOY winner, Antetokounmpo finished eighth in award voting last season ahead of four-time winner Rudy Gobert, who finished 13th. Keep an eye on how Milwaukee’s offseason addition of Myles Turner might free up Antetokounmpo to unleash havoc on opposing offenses.”
Granted, Wembanyama still ended up with far and away the most votes for the hardware with 95, and Mobley was a somewhat distant second place at 31 points. There’s a real argument that the Frenchman would have won the award last season if he didn’t get limited to just 46 games played, too.
For as impressive as it would be for Mobley to capture consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards for the Cavaliers, fans of the team maybe would rather see him take that next step as an offensive player instead.
Mobley is already an elite defensive player, but he has yet to play with the level of aggressiveness that is needed to be a premier offensive talent at the highest level. Despite all of his talents on the offensive end, he’s never attempted more than 12.8 shots or averaged more than 18.5 points per contest in an NBA campaign.
He took steps in the right direction as a scorer with his breakout 2024-25 season, namely by adding a capable 3-point shot to his arsenal. But it certainly feels as if he has another level he can reach as an offensive player.
A greater level of aggressiveness on offense seems to be the biggest thing standing in the way of superstardom for Mobley. With some empowerment from his teammates and coaches, there’s no reason why Mobley can’t average 20-plus points per game for the Cavaliers in the coming season.
Ideally, he will not only repeat as the Defensive Player of the Year in the 2025-26 season but enjoy easily his best scoring season in the NBA so far.