Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t have realistically hoped for a better start to the 2024-25 regular season for big man Evan Mobley. He has ramped up his aggressiveness on the offensive side of the ball in his fourth season in the NBA after he was criticized at times for being too passive earlier on in his tenure. Mobley is averaging career-highs in numerous categories, including points (18.8) and field-goal attempts (12.6) per game.
What’s more is that he’s upped his effectiveness on offense all while remaining a very impactful and disruptive defender. He’s averaging a team-high 1.4 blocks per game for a Cavaliers group that ranks in the top 10 in the league in defensive rating.
With Mobley playing the best basketball of his career this season, Cleveland allegedly has him ranked among the top 15 players in the NBA today.
“The Cavs internal rankings have him among the NBA’s top 15 players,” Cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto wrote.
Cleveland clearly thinks very highly of the 23-year-old, which is only fair given what he’s shown. It’s possible, however, that some NBA fans (especially those outside of Cleveland) don’t see Mobley as one of the league’s 15 best players just yet. There are some factors working against him.
For example, Mobley hasn’t accomplished a whole lot at the highest level in terms of accolades. While he did earn All-Defensive First Team honors two seasons ago, he has yet to earn an All-Star appearance or All-NBA nod, even if he seemingly has a great chance to change that in the near future.
Plus, Mobley has won just one playoff series since he joined the league ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. It came when the Cavaliers eliminated the Orlando Magic in seven games in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Mobley averaged 12.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game in that series.
But regardless of those factors, he is certainly an elite two-way player and has established himself as a franchise cornerstone at such a young age.
He will look to score 20-plus points for a fourth consecutive game when the Cavaliers play the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.
The Warriors picked up their first win since Dec. 21 when they beat the Phoenix Suns by four points on Saturday behind a 34-point performance from forward Jonathan Kuminga.
