Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors is not the 2024-25 Defensive Player of the Year, but he got a consolation prize of sorts the day after he found out that he’d finished third. Green is the winner of this season’s Hustle Award, the NBA announced Friday.
The award “honors a player who makes the effort plays that do not often appear in the traditional box score but help determine team success,” as stated in the league’s official press release. The league has tracked “hustle stats” — deflections, charges drawn, loose balls recovered, screen assists, contested shots, box outs — since 2016, and it has been giving out this award since the 2016-17 season.
The past winners: Patrick Beverley (2016-17), Amir Johnson (2017-18), Marcus Smart (2018-19, 2021-22, 2022-23), Montrezl Harrell (2019-20), Thaddeus Young (2020-21) and Alex Caruso (2023-24).
On a per-minute basis, Green ranked sixth in charges drawn, 15th in deflections, 22nd in screen assists, 13th in contested 2-point shots, second in contested 3-point shots and 10th in defensive box outs (among 143 eligible players). It is the first time that the winner of the award has ranked in the top 40 of all nine hustle stats that the NBA tracks, according to the league.
Green, 35 years old and in his 13th season, is the oldest player to win the award. He was the runner-up to Beverley eight years ago. He will all but certainly be named to his ninth All-Defensive team soon.
