CLEVELAND – The NBA announced tonight that Cleveland Cavaliers forward/center Evan Mobley has been named the 2024-25 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Mobley becomes the first player in franchise history to win the award, as well as one of only five players in NBA history to earn the honor before the age of 24, along with Dwight Howard (23 years, 128 days), Jaren Jackson Jr. (23 years, 206 days), Alvin Robertson (23 years, 265 days) and Kawhi Leonard (23 years, 290 days).

Mobley (7-0, 215), 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.

In addition to registering 34 multi-block games (fifth-most in the NBA), no other player in the entire league averaged more than 1.50 blocks while committing 2.0 fouls or fewer. 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 has a 175-94 (.651) record over the 269 games he has appeared in with the Cavaliers, which is the 22nd-best win percentage among all NBA players over that span.

The former USC standout and No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft owns career averages of 16.4 points on .548 shooting from the field, 9.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 0.83 steals and 1.56 blocks in 30.5 minutes per game.

Mobley already ranks eighth in Cavaliers history in total blocks (419) and was a Kia NBA All-Defensive First Team selection in 2022-23.