Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley’s name has popped up in recent trade speculation.
The Cleveland Cavaliers star is being tipped as a potential makeweight in a blockbuster trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, owing to the superstar’s uncertain future with the Milwaukee Bucks.
At first it was Brian Windhorst who boldly argued that if Giannis Antetokounmpo becomes available on the market, the Cleveland Cavaliers must show no hesitancy in offering Evan Mobley.
This was followed by Bill Simmons who also proposed a direct one-on-one swap between the Cavs and the Bucks for both Mobley and Antetokounmpo.
Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty ImagesCleveland Cavaliers president makes his stance clear about Evan Mobley
The trade rumors and suggestions involving Mobley are pretty understandable considering the Cleveland Cavaliers’ postseason exit.
After clinching a Conference-leading 64 wins this past regular season, the expectations were high for the team to compete at the highest level for the NBA championship.
But the Cavs were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in a crushing five-game series in the East Semifinals.
The Cavs have still yet to reach the Conference Finals since making a splash in 2022 to acquire new superstar Donovan Mitchell. And to possibly get over the hump, Nick Wright even proposed a second reunion between Cleveland and LeBron James.
In the wake of plenty of all the speculation that has involved Mobley, Cavs general manager Koby Altman made it clear that the franchise remains committed to the star big man.
“Evan Mobley’s 23-years-old,” Altman said in his Cavaliers season exit press conference. “If we don’t think he’s going to break through, we’re nuts. He’s going to break through at some point.
“He’s 23 years old. This is his third playoffs. He’s still figuring out this new high-usage part of his game that came with Kenny [Atkinson] this year, and so he’s going to break through that.
“That internal growth is something that we’ve always banked on and we’re going to continue to bank on. If we are a second apron team, we still know we have internal growth to get better. And so if we land there, we know we have the sustainability to retain our top talent.”
Altman, Cavs remain committed to Mobley’s growth
The 2024-25 season was actually a sensational breakout year for Mobley.
After being doubted in his first three seasons in the NBA, Mobley enjoyed a meteoric rise by elevating his two-way play to the next level, which teammate Ty Jerome praised.
Averaging 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 30.5 minutes across 71 games, he clinched his first All-Star nod while becoming the league’s Defensive Player of the Year winner.
.
Altman is convinced that brighter possibilities still await Mobley right after this year of growth.
“This is a big offseason again for Evan. We’re going to go as a franchise as Evan is going to go. And we’ve had that conversation with Evan,” Altman added.
“Evan, can he play three? Can he play four? Can he play five? And in the playoffs, we need more. We need more than 13 field-goal attempts per game, that’s new. That’s new for Evan. There’s another jump.
“And so to that point, Kenny’s going to be able to implement his offseason program, which we’re very excited about. And we’re going to see some internal growth there, and we think we have one of the best big men in the game in Evan Mobley.”
Trade murmurs about Mobley may take a stop for now, but we would expect Altman to say all this publicly. If the Bucks reached out and put Giannis on the table – we would then see how committed they really are.