{"id":127014,"date":"2025-03-05T09:41:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=127014"},"modified":"2025-03-05T09:41:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:41:57","slug":"to-stop-daniels-jackson-jr-has-handed-the-dpoy-to-mobley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/05\/to-stop-daniels-jackson-jr-has-handed-the-dpoy-to-mobley\/","title":{"rendered":"To Stop Daniels, Jackson Jr Has Handed The DPOY To Mobley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/26\/grizzlies-rookie-of-the-year-contender-jaylen-wells-focused\/\" target=\"_self\">Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> star <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jacksja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a> suffered a Grade 2 left ankle sprain during Monday&#8217;s loss to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/04\/hawks-no-1-pick-zaccharie-risacher-starting-play-like-one\/\" target=\"_self\">Atlanta Hawks<\/a>. He sustained the injury while attempting to block <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/daniedy01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dyson Daniels<\/a>&#8216; shot in the first quarter. The Grizzlies announced Jackson is <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.co.uk\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/44111986\/grizzlies-jaren-jackson-jr-week-week-ankle-sprain\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">week-to-week<\/a>, leaving his status uncertain for the final stretch of the season. A Grade 2 ankle sprain typically requires 4 to 6 weeks of recovery for NBA players. This timeline suggests Jackson may miss most or all of the remaining 21 regular season games. His absence not only hurts Memphis&#8217; playoff hopes but also severely impacts his candidacy for the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award. In trying to stop Daniels, Jackson Jr has handed the DPOY award to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mobleev01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Mobley<\/a>. Jackson Jr was a &#8211;<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/betting\/jaren-jackson-jr-jumps-odds-favorite-win-defensive-player-of-the-year-victor-wembanyama-injury#:~:text=On%20Thursday%2C%20oddsmakers%20set%20Cleveland,as%20the%20odds%20on%20favorite.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">125<\/a> favorite to win the award briefly prior to his injury.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jaren Jackson Jr twisted his ankle \ud83d\ude16 #JJJ #memphisgrizzlies\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RkFCk9wiNbw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>To Stop Dyson Daniels, Jaren Jackson Jr Has Handed The DPOY To Evan Mobley<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/19\/grizzlies-midway-notes-a-jaren-jackson-jr-ja-morant-gamble\/\" target=\"_self\">Jackson<\/a> has played 59 games and needs six more to reach the league\u2019s 65-game minimum for awards eligibility. If his recovery takes the full six weeks, he won\u2019t return in time to qualify. This would effectively remove him from the DPOY race, opening the door for Mobley. Jackson could return earlier if he uses painkillers. That won&#8217;t guarantee a win for him though as he would, understandably, have limited impact due to discomfort and limited movement. It&#8217;s a risky gamble also as it could aggravate the injury.<\/p>\n<h3>The Defensive Player of the Year Race Without Jackson<\/h3>\n<p>Historically, DPOY winners anchor a top-3 defense. Since 2007, every winner has played for a team with a top-5 defensive rating. Before Jackson\u2019s injury, the DPOY race had four leading candidates:<\/p>\n<p>Evan Mobley \u2013 Anchoring the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/16\/cavs-skills-challenge\/\" target=\"_self\">Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>\u2019 seventh-ranked defense, averaging 0.8 steals and 1.6 blocks.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/21\/jaren-jackson-contract\/\" target=\"_self\">Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a> \u2013 Leading the Grizzlies&#8217; eleventh-ranked defense, averaging 1.3 steals and 1.6 blocks. One of only two players to average at least a steal and 1.5 blocks per game this season.<\/p>\n<p>Dyson Daniels \u2013 Averaging 3.0 steals per game, the highest since <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/roberal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alvin Robertson<\/a> in 1990-91.<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dortlu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luguentz Dort<\/a> \u2013 The best defender on the league\u2019s top defensive team, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/29\/the-thunder-set-to-be-gifted-another-star-by-the-76ers\/\" target=\"_self\">Oklahoma City Thunder. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Daniels has been such a force on the defensive end that he makes the strongest case we have seen for the award by a guard since <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smartma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcus Smart<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paytoga01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gary Payton<\/a>. He\u2019s the best on-ball defender in the league and has defensive highlights to emphasize his impact. However, Daniels&#8217; team is just <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/defense?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">outside<\/a> the bottom 10 in defensive rating.<\/p>\n<p>Dort has a strong case as the best defender on the league\u2019s No. 1 defense, but Mobley\u2019s individual impact stands out. He just <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/cavaliers\/news\/releases-evan-mobley-defensive-player-of-month-250304\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">won<\/a> his second Defensive Player of the Month award, making him the first player to do so in NBA history. When Mobley is on the floor, the team&#8217;s a top-three defense <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/team\/1610612739\/onoffcourt-advanced?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(107.0 defensive rating)<\/a> in the league but when he sits, they become a middle-of-the-pack defense (112.0).<\/p>\n<h3>Mobley Passes Jackson Jr as the DPOY Favorite<\/h3>\n<p>Jackson\u2019s injury gives Mobley a clear path to winning his first DPOY. He has the numbers, the team success, and now, the momentum. With Jackson sidelined, Mobley can strengthen his case over the final stretch of the season.<\/p>\n<p>The irony? <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/18\/jaren-jackson-jr-challenges-kyrie-irving-in-1v1-tournament\/\" target=\"_self\">Jackson&#8217;s<\/a> injury happened while trying to stop Daniels, another DPOY candidate. That single moment may have cost him the award and handed it to Mobley instead.<\/p>\n<p><em><label>Credit: <\/label>\u00a9 Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Memphis Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr. suffered a Grade 2 left ankle sprain during Monday&#8217;s loss to the Atlanta Hawks. He sustained the injury while attempting to block Dyson Daniels&#8216; shot in the first quarter. The Grizzlies announced Jackson is week-to-week, leaving his status uncertain for the final stretch of the season. A Grade 2 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":127021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,3],"tags":[49979,2951,49873,558,4605,3966,1948,3838,4745],"class_list":["post-127014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-news","tag-2024-25-nba-season","tag-defense","tag-defensive-player-of-the-month","tag-defensive-player-of-the-year","tag-dyson-daniels","tag-evan-mobley","tag-jaren-jackson-jr","tag-lugentz-dort","tag-nba-injuries"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127014"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127025,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127014\/revisions\/127025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}