Evan Mobley Headlines NBA All-Defensive Team
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley, recognized as the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year this season, leads the league’s All-Defensive team, whose members were announced on Thursday.
Mobley, who was also selected for the All-Defensive First Team in the 2022-23 season, shares the first team with Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks, Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors, and Amen Thompson of the Houston Rockets.
At 23 years old, Mobley averaged 1.6 blocks with the Cavaliers, who achieved 64 victories, establishing himself as one of the most versatile players in the league in his first four seasons. He received 99 of the 100 votes for the first team, being along with Daniels the only players to be included in the 100 ballots.
Green, the other former Defensive Player of the Year (2017) selected for the first team this season, already has five first-team selections after averaging 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks with the Warriors. He obtained 91 votes for the first team.
Green’s nine total All-Defensive team selections tie him for seventh in NBA history, alongside Hall of Famers such as Dennis Johnson, Michael Jordan, Jason Kidd, Hakeem Olajuwon, Gary Payton, and Chris Paul.
Daniels, Dort, and Thompson were selected for the All-Defense team for the first time.
Daniels led the NBA this season with an average of 3 steals per game in his first year with the Hawks, accumulating 229 steals, the most in the league since Payton recorded 231 in 1996.
Dort, one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, averaged 1.1 steals per game with the Thunder, who amassed 68 wins.
Thompson, for his part, averaged 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks with Houston, quickly becoming one of the league’s best perimeter defenders in his second year.
The second team included Toumani Camara of the Portland Trail Blazers, Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies, Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Ivica Zubac of the LA Clippers.
Gobert, last year’s Defensive Player of the Year and a four-time winner of the award, earned his eighth All-Defensive selection of his career. This was his first time on the second team, while Jackson, the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, has been included on three All-Defensive teams.
Camara, Williams, and Zubac were selected for the All-Defense team for the first time.
The All-Defensive teams are the penultimate award announcement of this season. The All-NBA teams will be announced on Friday night.
