- Programming Note: Tune into “Warriors Pregame Live” at 6 p.m. PT on Tuesday on NBC Sports Bay Area before the Warriors and Grizzlies tip-off. Immediately after the final buzzer, tune back in for “Warriors Postgame Live.”
How Draymond Green stacks up against his fellow NBA Defensive Player of the Year candidates on the court is up for debate, but there is no question he has one advantage over the competition off the court.
The Warriors forward, along with Cleveland forward Evan Mobley, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Lu Dort and Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels likely will be the finalists for the award, and Cavaliers star point guard Darius Garland explained on Friday’s episode of FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back” why his teammate is most deserving of the honor.
“Draymond Green has a cheat code with his podcast.”
Darius Garland says Evan Mobley deserves to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award 🗣️@dariusgarland22 | @MichelleDBeadle | @TeamLou23 | @ChandlerParsons pic.twitter.com/MKzRFeSnfe
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) April 15, 2025
“Evan really deserves it,” Garland said of Mobley. “A young guy in the league that’s really starting to come into his own. And defense, that’s his mindset, trying to stop the best defenders, try to protect the paint, trying to protect the rim as much as he can. If you guys watch the games, you see what his abilities are, you see how he affects shots and other defenders …
“We really have to advocate for him a lot since he’s so quiet. There was no shots are Draymond, that’s my bro. But Evan Mobley definitely deserves Defensive Player of the Year.”
The off-the-court advantage that Green has, is his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show With Baron Davis,” where he continuously has campaigned for the award. And, as Garland believes, rather successfully.
“I think we’re just going to go the media route, have the media just do what they do,” Garland said about campaigning for Mobley. “We’ve been tweeting it a little bit, we’ve been putting it out there just on our end. I mean, Draymond really has a cheat code with his podcast, he can really go on there every day, which is super cool and it’s really working.”
Green currently is the betting favorite to win his second career award on a number of gambling sites, and only has strengthened his DPOY case in recent months since the Warriors’ blockbuster trade for star forward Jimmy Butler on Feb. 5.
However, Garland and the Cavs’ campaign for Mobley might just be heating up …
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