Earlier today, the NBA announced that Draymond Green is the 2024–25 Hustle Player of the Year.
“The award honors a player who makes the effort plays that do not often appear in the box score but help determine team success,” the league said in its announcement on social media.
Green becomes the ninth recipient since the award's debut in 2016–17 and the first Warrior to earn the honor. Add it to his resume: eight-time All-Defensive Team, 2016–17 Defensive Player of the Year, and now, Hustle Player of the Year. At 35, he’s still getting recognition — but let’s be honest.
Is this a joke?
Hustle ... or handout?
The award feels less like a true honor and more like a consolation prize — especially for a player who had a legitimate case to win Defensive Player of the Year. That award likely would’ve gone to Victor Wembanyama, had he not been sidelined by a season-ending DVT diagnosis. Instead, it went to Evan Mobley, whose Cavaliers finished 64–18 compared to Golden State’s 48–34.
Fine. Mobley won DPOY. But now we’re giving Green the hustle crown — and ignoring the numbers?
Green showed up in one major category consistently: contested threes. In nearly every other hustle category, he’s an afterthought. So if this award is based on metrics not found in the standard box score, the data just doesn’t support his win. Not even close.
So who got snubbed?
Dyson Daniels — top-three in Defensive Player of the Year voting — appeared in seven different hustle metric categories.
Domantas Sabonis and Nikola Jokic each showed up six times, including high rankings in screen assists and box outs — metrics that reflect constant, game-shaping effort.
Josh Hart? Not even in the top five in voting. This, despite setting a Knicks franchise record for triple-doubles and being one of the most active, do-it-all players in the league.
Time for a change?
If the NBA insists this award reflects effort that stats don’t capture, then maybe it’s time to rethink how it’s awarded. Because right now, it feels more like a legacy nod to a familiar name than a true measure of what hustle looks like in today’s NBA.
Maybe it’s time for a voting overhaul — or at least a more transparent process. Because if we’re going to hand out awards based on heart, grit, and the “little things,” we better make sure we’re actually measuring them.