Draymond named West’s Defensive Player of Month, boosts DPOY case originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Draymond Green strengthened his case for 2024-25 NBA Defensive Player of the Year after adding another accolade to his résumé.
The Warriors star forward has been named the Western Conference Kia Defensive Player of the Month for games played in March, the league announced Tuesday.
A defensive mastermind.#DubNation, Draymond Green is the Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month 💪 pic.twitter.com/VBt05IXCpB
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 1, 2025
In 15 games through March, Green averaged 10.2 points on 42.9-percent shooting, with 6.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.9 blocks in 30.5 minutes. The Warriors went 11-4 in such contests.
Golden State also led the league in steals per game during March, and the team also boasted the second-best team defensive rating in the West.
Since then, Green’s odds of winning the league’s top defensive award have skyrocketed. The DPOY award once appeared to be a given for San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama before he sustained a season-ending injury, but now, it might be Green’s award to lose.
Green won the award in 2017, but he recently told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole and Kerith Burke on “Dubs Talk” that winning it a second time would be even “crazier.”
“It would mean the world to me; you know I pride myself on the defensive end,” Green told Poole and Burke. “I think to be acknowledged as the best defender in this league is no small feat. It’s something that, I never pride myself on winning awards, but they never hurt the ego and they don’t hurt the pockets.
“But most importantly, even more so than that, I think all the hard work you put in to try and stay at an elite level, and to be recognized as the Defensive Player of the Year at 35, eight years after first doing it, it takes a lot of work and a lot of effort to have that type of longevity.”
The Warriors’ defense ranks fourth-best in the league when Green is on the court this season.
Green, who has been named to the All-Defensive Team eight times, is the first Warriors player to earn the monthly accolade, which the league began awarding this season. Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, another frontrunner for DPOY, was named the Eastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Month.
While there are still just under two weeks of the regular season remaining for Green to solidify his case, his most recent nod certainly has boosted his chances of winning the seasonal award.
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Draymond named West’s Defensive Player of Month, boosts DPOY case
Draymond Green strengthened his case for 2024-25 NBA Defensive Player of the Year after adding another accolade to his résumé.
The Warriors star forward has been named the Western Conference Kia Defensive Player of the Month for games played in March, the league announced Tuesday.
A defensive mastermind.#DubNation, Draymond Green is the Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month 💪 pic.twitter.com/VBt05IXCpB
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors)
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In 15 games through March, Green averaged 10.2 points on 42.9 percent shooting, with 6.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.9 blocks in 30.5 minutes. The Warriors went 11-4 in such contests.
Golden State also led the league in steals per game during March, and the team also boasted the second-best team defensive rating in the West.
Since then, Green’s odds of winning the league’s top defensive award have skyrocketed. The DPOY award once appeared to be a given for San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama before he sustained a season-ending injury, but now, it might be Green’s award to lose.
Green won the award in 2017, but he recently told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole and Kerith Burke on “Dubs Talk” that winning it a second time would be even “crazier.”
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“It would mean the world to me; you know I pride myself on the defensive end,” Green told Poole and Burke. “I think to be acknowledged as the best defender in this league is no small feat. It’s something that, I never pride myself on winning awards, but they never hurt the ego and they don’t hurt the pockets.
“But most importantly, even more so than that, I think all the hard work you put in to try and stay at an elite level, and to be recognized as the Defensive Player of the Year at 35, eight years after first doing it, it takes a lot of work and a lot of effort to have that type of longevity.”
The Warriors’ defense ranks fourth-best in the league when Green is on the court this season.
Green, who has been named to the All-Defensive Team eight times, is the first Warriors player to earn the monthly accolade, which the league began awarding this season. Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, another frontrunner for DPOY, was named the Eastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Month.
While there are still just under two weeks of the regular season remaining for Green to solidify his case, his most recent nod certainly has boosted his chances of winning the seasonal award.
