Even though the Warriors fell short of their NBA championship aspirations this season, Draymond Green reached one of his biggest goals.
Green was among the five players selected to the 2024-25 Kia NBA All-Defensive First Team, alongside Dyson Daniels, Luguentz Dort, Amen Thompson and 2024-25 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley.
It is the ninth All-Defensive Team nod of Green’s 13-year NBA career, and the fifth time he was named to the First Team. He made the All-Defensive Second team four times in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Warriors superstar Steph Curry congratulated his longtime teammate on Instagram.
Green was a finalist for NBA Defensive Player of the Year, finishing third in voting for the award. His last DPOY nod was for the 2016-17 season.
The 35-year-old also won the 2024-25 NBA Hustle Award, which “honors players who make the effort plays that don’t often appear in the traditional box score but impact winning on a nightly basis.”
He also made history as the first award winner to finish inside the top 40 in all nine hustle categories, per the NBA. Hustle stats, which the league has been tracking since the 2016 postseason, include charges drawn, deflections, screen assists, contested 2-point shots, contested 3-point shots, offensive loose balls recovered, defensive loose balls recovered, offensive box outs and defensive box outs.
Green, on a per-minute basis, ranked second in contested 3-point shots, sixth in charges drawn, 10th in defensive box outs, 13th in contested 2-point shots and 15th in deflections. The eight-time All-Defensive Team member also was one of just two players with 40-plus appearances to average at least 1.45 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr recently labeled Green as the “heartbeat” of the Warriors, and his most recent nod perfectly embodies just that.
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