"They gave him a pity award" - NBA fans explode as Draymond Green snags NBA Hustle honors
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is walking away from the 2024-25 season as an award winner. The NBA saw fit to give Green the Hustle Award, which recognizes a player's impact that does not show up as a statistic on the box score.
Green was also a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) and is a likely candidate for the All-Defensive teams.
Several fans on Instagram pointed out that the Warriors forward was robbed of the DPOY award and that this is a consolation prize.
"They knew they robbed him of that DPOY so they gave him a pity award," one fan commented.
"Green got robbed for the DPOY," another fan said.
"Robbed bro of DPOY and gave him a made up accolade," a fan wrote.
Meanwhile, fans on X went on to troll Green for winning the Hustle award.
"Draymond cried so much NBA gave him a made up award," a fan said.
"Wanted bread got the wrap," another fan wrote.
"AKA the Triple Single Award," one fan tweeted.
Draymond Green fell short of winning this year's Defensive Player of the Year award. On Thursday, the league announced that the 2024-25 DPOY award goes to Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley. Atlanta Hawks defensive specialist Dyson Daniels finished second in the voting, and Green finished third.
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Who else has won the Hustle Award aside from Draymond Green?
While this is the first time that Draymond Green has won this award, he is not the first ever to win it. In fact, the league has been handing this award out since 2017. The inaugural winner of the award was former Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley.
In the award's history, the only player to win it multiple times is defensive-minded guard Marcus Smart. Smart has been named the league's best hustle player thrice (2019, 2022 and 2023). Other winners are Amir Johnson (2018), Montrezl Harrell (2020), Thaddeus Young (2021) and Alex Caruso (2024).
Interestingly, Green is only the second player to win this award while also being the former Defensive Player of the Year. Green was named the league's DPOY in 2017.
Meanwhile, Smart was named the NBA's DPOY in 2022. This also makes Smart the only player to have won the Hustle Award and DPOY the same year. Green nearly accomplished the same this season.