Draymond Green has fallen short of yet another Defensive Player of the Year award. Even though he was favored to win the award just a few weeks ago, it was announced Thursday that the Golden State Warriors veteran finished third in the voting results.
Green has had a masterful season on the defensive end, and likely is the best defender in the league when the games matter most, but for whatever reason the voters thought he wasn’t deserving of the award.
Evan Mobley’s case was undoubtedly strong, but Dyson Daniels getting more first-place votes than green is criminal. There is one silver lining to these DPOY results though, with potential of creating inspiration for the 35-year-old if he feels slighted at these results.
Can Draymond Green's snub benefit the Warriors?
Mobley finished as this season's Defensive Player of the Year, grabbing 35 first-place votes and finishing with 285 total points. This was nearly 100 points more than the second-place Dyson Daniels, with Green third in only getting 15 first-place votes, while getting the second-most second-place votes with 20. While missing out on the award is certainly a bummer for the 4x NBA champion, Green and the Warriors have their eyes on bigger awards.
A global media panel of 100 voters selected the winner of the 2024-25 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 24, 2025
The complete voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/7eH65d7erV
Draymond has been excellent on defense in the first two games of these playoffs. He has largely kept Alperen Sengun in check and has three steals and one block in each game, while showing exactly why so many people put him on their Defensive Player of the Year ballot. On the offensive end, however, his efficiency and impact has left a lot to be desired.
Green has scored a total of 11 points through two games while shooting only 2-of-8 from 3-point range. The veteran forward has never been relied on much for scoring, but these aren’t great numbers even by his standards. What is more concerning though is that he only has four total assists through two games, including only one in Game 2 on Wednesday while committing five turnovers.
Although Green has been pretty stellar on the defensive end, he certainly hasn’t had his best series so far. That’s why Warriors fans should hope that the DPOY award voting results can help inspire him to take his game to the next level.
Green has always been a player who loves to play with some bulletin board material to keep him hungry. You can bet that he is going to prove to everyone that not only should he have been the DPOY, but that he is still one of the best players in the NBA. As the Warriors just got an ominous Jimmy Butler injury update, the Warriors need a fired-up Draymond now more than ever.