Draymond Green announced as finalist for Defensive Player of the Year

They better give our guy the trophy!

Well, Dub Nation, we’re witnessing something special that frankly doesn’t get talked about enough in NBA circles. At 35 years old, Draymond Green is making Father Time look like some scrub who couldn’t even make the Santa Cruz G-League roster.

The numbers don’t lie: 1.5 steals, 1.0 blocks, and a 108.8 defensive rating across 68 games this season. But anyone who’s followed the Golden State Warriors knows Draymond’s impact has never been fully captured by traditional stats. The man is basically a basketball savant with a mouth that runs even faster than his defensive rotations—and those rotations are lightning quick.

Let’s be real for a second. Dyson Daniels is averaging a league-leading 3.0 steals and Evan Mobley has emerged as a defensive anchor for the East’s top seed. Those aren’t just good stats—they’re phenomenal. In any normal year, either guy would be engraving their name on the trophy already. But this ain’t a normal year, because Draymond is reminding everyone why he’s arguably the most versatile defender of his generation.

Think about this: The last time Draymond won DPOY was EIGHT YEARS AGO. Most players his age are either retiring, becoming defensive liabilities, or posting cryptic Instagram captions about “the next chapter.” Meanwhile, Green is out here making 25-year-old All-Stars look like they’re running offensive sets for the first time.

As he told Monte Poole and Kerith Burke last month, “To be acknowledged as the best defender in this league is no small feat.” But the truly impressive part? “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.”

That’s the thing about defensive greatness—it requires an obsessive attention to detail that most casual fans don’t appreciate. While everyone’s drooling over 40-point games and poster dunks, Draymond is diagnosing offensive schemes faster than most coaches can, calling out plays before they happen, and still somehow finding time to yell at refs between defensive stands.

Remember when folks used to debate whether Draymond was just a product of the Warriors system? Those conversations sound absolutely ridiculous now. The Warriors system IS not just Stephen Curry dominating; it requries the power of Draymond Green. His basketball IQ is basically what would happen if you downloaded the entire NBA coaching history into a trash-talking simulator and gave it a green light to verbally destroy anyone within earshot.

The man himself said it best on his podcast with Baron Davis: “Put it in the bag. That’s what I think. Put it in the bag. Yours truly.” The confidence isn’t just talk—it’s backed by oddsmakers who currently have him as the betting favorite.

Look, I don’t know if Draymond will ultimately win his second DPOY trophy. Daniels and Mobley present legitimate competition with flashier counting stats. But what I do know is that we’re witnessing greatness in its twilight years, and that deserves our attention and appreciation.

This version of Draymond—the elder statesman still terrorizing offenses while mentoring the next generation—might be the most impressive iteration yet. So whether he wins the award or not, Dub Nation should savor every defensive masterclass this man delivers.

Because defensive wizards like Draymond Green don’t come around often, and they certainly don’t usually maintain this level of excellence as they approach their late 30s. We’re not just watching a good defender—we’re watching one of the all-time greats give a masterclass in basketball intelligence.