The race for the 2025 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award is heating up, and it remains very much wide open with around 10 games remaining in each team’s regular season campaign. Many have been making their case, with Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels being the fan favorite to take home the award against other worthy candidates such as Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green and Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley.
According to the latest odds on FanDuel, however, Daniels is not the favorite to bag the 2025 DPOY award. It is Green who is favored to take home the acclaim, as he is currently a -135 favorite on the aforementioned sportsbook. Mobley, who has been favored to win for most of the season, fell behind the Warriors forward in the latest odds update (+105), while the Hawks guard has now become a +1500 underdog for the award.
Rounding out the top five of betting favorites to win DPOY are Luguentz Dort (+3000) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (+3000), both of whom have been playing an instrumental role in propping up the defenses of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies, respectively.
Of course, being the betting favorite doesn’t mean that voters will view things the same way. Green may be playing a huge role in the Warriors’ better run as of late, but with there being no standout defender on the league’s most elite defenses, this could pave the way for the 35-year-old forward to win the second DPOY award of his career. At the moment, the Warriors have a better defensive rating than that of Mobley’s Cavs, which could be a key factor in how the voters decide.
With Victor Wembanyama being ineligible for awards after being unable to play in the minimum number of games, the DPOY race will be something to track until the end of the season, as things can still change from now until then.
2025 DPOY race lacks precedent, could open up win for Warriors’ Draymond Green
DPOY award voters are typically inclined to select the player they believe are most deserving of the trophy based on how their individual defense elevates the entire team’s performance on that end of the floor. Typically, this means that the winners of the award are on teams that boast a top-five defense in the NBA (according to defensive rating) at the minimum. Perhaps this year is when that trend stops, paving the way for Draymond Green to win the award.
At the moment, the Warriors and Cavs rank outside the top-five in defensive rating (seventh and eighth respectively). The last player to win a DPOY award while playing for a team without a top-five defense is Marcus Camby, who did so for a Denver Nuggets team that ranked 12th in defense back in 2007.
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