After finishing second in Defensive Player of the Year voting as a rookie in 2024, rising Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was viewed at this year’s All-Star break as the overwhelming frontrunner to win the award in his second NBA season.
However, the All-Star Game is the last game that Wembanyama will play in 2024/25, as he was ruled out for the remainder of the season after being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. While the Spurs do everything they can to make sure their franchise player is healthy and ready to go for the 2025/26 season, this year’s Defensive Player of the Year award is suddenly very much up for grabs.
Wembanyama will soon be officially out of the running, since he’ll fall well short of the 65-game requirement for end-of-season awards. As we wrote on Saturday, his absence has made Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Grizzlies and Evan Mobley as the Cavaliers the clear betting favorites to win Defensive Player of the Year.
The two young big men squared off on Sunday for the first time this season, with Mobley leading the Cavs to a tight victory by racking up 25 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, and three blocked shots. For the season, Cleveland has a 106.9 defensive rating with Mobley on the court and a 112.6 mark when he’s not. Although Cleveland’s defense ranks seventh overall, that 106.9 defensive rating when Mobley plays would be second-best in the NBA.
Jackson, the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, has had a very similar on/off-court impact in Memphis. The Grizzlies have a 106.8 defensive rating when Jackson is on the floor and a 113.1 mark when he sits.
Mobley and Jackson are anchors of their respective defenses but have the athleticism and versatility to switch onto smaller opponents and move away the basket if necessary. Another player with that skill set is Heat big man Bam Adebayo, who has finished in the top five of Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of the past five seasons.
Asked last week about the possibility of a DPOY award, Adebayo made it clear he’s more focused on getting the Heat back on track than earning individual hardware. He may need to do the former to have a shot at the latter, since team success is a major factor in award consideration. Miami currently ranks eighth in the Eastern Conference with a 26-29 record.
While voters typically favor centers who protect the basket, a wing or forward can emerge as a leading candidate when no one big man separates himself from the field. Thunder swingman Luguentz Dort, a lock-down defender on the wing, could become that player this season. Oklahoma City’s 104.8 defensive rating leads the league by a wide margin and Dort currently has the third-best DPOY betting odds at BetOnline.ag.
Asked by Chris Mannix of SI.com last week about his individual goals beyond winning a championship, Dort acknowledged that he’d love to be recognized for his defense.
“Honestly, the biggest goal is to go out there and perform every night for my teammates,” he said. “But it will always be nice to get rewarded for the hard work that I do on the court, which would probably be Defensive Player of the Year or (All-Defensive) first team. If you ask me if I deserve it, I would say yes, just because of what I bring every night, all the matchups that I got to face every night. But all that would be a goal of mine.”
Dort’s teammates Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, rising defensive stars Dyson Daniels and Amen Thompson, and four-time DPOY Rudy Gobert are among the other betting options available at BetOnline.ag, but I’d view them as longer shots.
We want to know what you think. Which player would be your 2024/25 pick for Defensive Player of the Year? Which player do you expect to win the award? Would Wembanyama have been your choice if he had reached the minimum-game threshold?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
I’m gonna guess that whoever wrote this hasn’t watched much Dyson Daniels this season. Nobody in the league is as great defensively as him, though Jaren Jr is pretty great as well.
Daniels is awesome. He’ll make an All-Defensive team. But DPOY voters generally vote a certain way. Two guards have won this award in the last 35ish years and both were on top-two seeds. So he’s a long shot.
This is sorta like saying Cooper Flagg is a long shot to go #1 in the draft because nobody from Maine has ever gone #1. Only thing that should really matter is whether Dyson deserves the award. He leads the league in deflections & steals by a huge margin. He’s as dominant defensively as anyone else in the league.
Yeah just like that …… no guard has ever been as dominant as a Center in the history of the game. Dyson can guard 1-4. So he is unique.
Smart never deserved to win.
link to basketball-reference.com
As you stated, it’s the only thing that SHOULD matter, not the only thing that does matter. Daniels isn’t going to win it even if he deserves it.
Also, your comparison is definitely apples to oranges. We know Flagg is going #1; we know Daniels isn’t winning DPOY.
Not in his first yr of significance either. His day is coming.
It’s got to be Jackson. Mobley would be second easily, probably followed by Dyson Daniels (who rarely gets the credit he deserves as a defender).
You want to get noticed. Then you play on a good team. A top team. Where your contributions mean something. Dyson has shown to be a top defender this year. Unfortunately his team is at the bottom on D. Hawks are not even a .500 team. All that doesn’t help him. A true big always affects the defense more. He allows rest of team to gamble. Be more aggressive. You control the paint. Means less dunks and layups. Highest percentage shots in the game. Also allows you to control the defensive boards. A big stat for a defensive player. Its Why Wemby was leading the way. A rim protector and rebounder. Is the best defender you can have in a 2way sport.
Dyson is getting the respect this year. He’s earned that. Jackson was a close second before Wemby went down. I see him as leader now.
For what it’s worth the Hawks are ranked 16th in defensive rating. They’re not a top rated team but 16 is far from the bottom.
It’s going to be close between Mobley and Jackson and Jackson will probably win.
If for some reason they go with someone other than a big man I’d go with Dort. Dort is the best 1 on 1 defender in the league and he plays for the best defense in the NBA. He doesn’t rack up steals and deflections like Daniels because he doesn’t play the passing lanes and take any unnecessary chances. He stays on his man (who is always the best offensive creator on the opposite team) and simply locks them down forcing bad shots or bad passes. Ask Luka, Mitchell, Maxey, Morant, Edwards or Harden what it’s like being locked into the Dorture Chamber.
Jackson averaged 3 blocks the year he won it. He’s way down from that number this year. That obviously doesn’t tell the whole story, but I think it swings the pendulum to Mobley, since he hasn’t won it yet.
If GSW win the title, gotta give it to Draymond.