Evan Mobley's DPOY win results in significant pay raise

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley. John Jones-Imagn Images

Evan Mobley's Defensive Player of the Year win results in significant pay raise

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Apr 24, 2025 7:25 PM ET

Thursday ended up being a pretty great day for Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Evan Mobley. He not only won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award for the first time in his career, but he also became $45 million richer as a result.

When Mobley signed his five-year, $224 million contract extension with the Cavaliers back in July, it included a bonus that would raise his salary from 25% of the league's salary cap to 30% of the cap if he won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.

With Mobley officially securing the award on Thursday, the bonus officially kicks in starting next season.

Significant financial implications with Evan Mobley being named DPOY. pic.twitter.com/DPkz921bIP
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) April 24, 2025

Certainly not a bad bonus to have in his contract.

He ended up getting 35 first-place votes to beat Atlanta's Dyson Daniels and Golden State's Draymond Green.

Here are the full voting results.

DPOY voting results: pic.twitter.com/bvRw1U75CB
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 24, 2025

Mobley finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting back in 2022-23. He is an outstanding defensive player and keeps getting better.

In 71 regular-season games, he averaged 9.3 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 1.6 blocks per game for a Cavaliers team that finished with the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers selected Mobley in the 2021 NBA Draft with the No. 3 overall pick. He has quickly become a key piece for one of the NBA's best teams.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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