Cleveland Cavaliers fans realistically couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2024-25 regular season for big man Evan Mobley. In his fourth season in the NBA, he has increased his aggressiveness on the offensive side of the ball after being criticized at times for being too passive early in his tenure. Mobley is averaging career highs in numerous categories, including points (18.8) and field goal attempts (12.6) per game.

Additionally, he has increased his effectiveness on offense while remaining a very effective and disruptive defender. He is averaging a team-high 1.4 blocks per game for a Cavaliers group that ranks in the top 10 in the league in defensive rating.

With Mobley playing the best basketball of his career this season, Cleveland reportedly ranks him among the 15 best players in the NBA today.

“The Cavs’ internal rankings place him among the 15 best players in the NBA,” wrote Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com.

Cleveland clearly holds the 23-year-old in high regard, which is only fair given what he’s shown. However, it’s possible that some NBA fans (particularly those outside of Cleveland) don’t yet view Mobley as one of the league’s 15 best players. There are a few factors that speak against him.

For example, Mobley hasn’t accomplished much in terms of accolades at the highest level. Despite earning All-Defensive First Team honors two seasons ago, he has yet to earn an All-Star appearance or an All-NBA nomination, although he appears to have a strong chance of changing that in the near future .

Additionally, Mobley has only won one playoff series since entering the league prior to the 2021-22 season. It came as the Cavaliers defeated the Orlando Magic in seven games in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Mobley averaged 12.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game in that series.

But regardless of these factors, he is undoubtedly a top-notch two-way player and has established himself as a cornerstone of the franchise at such a young age.

He will try to score more than 20 points for the fourth straight game when the Cavaliers play the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.

The Warriors picked up their first win since Dec. 21 when they beat the Phoenix Suns by four points on Saturday behind a 34-point performance from forward Jonathan Kuminga.