Evan Mobley's Brother, Isaiah, Selected by Cavaliers in 2nd Round of 2022 NBA Draft
June 24, 2022
The Cleveland Cavaliers now have all the Mobleys.
Cleveland selected Evan Mobley's brother, Isaiah, with the 49th pick in the 2022 NBA draft Thursday. Both played college basketball at USC, and Isaiah is older by a year and almost nine months.
The Cavaliers selected Evan Mobley with the third pick in the 2021 draft, and he had an impressive season, averaging 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 blocks in 69 games while shooting 50.8 percent.
He was selected to the NBA's All-Rookie first team alongside the Toronto Raptors' Scottie Barnes, the Detroit Pistons' Cade Cunningham, the Houston Rockets' Jalen Green and the Orlando Magic's Franz Wagner.
Evan spent just one season at USC before declaring for the NBA draft. He averaged 16.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.9 blocks in 33 games while shooting 57.8 percent.
Isaiah spent three seasons with the Trojans before entering the draft. He had an impressive junior season, averaging 14.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 44.5 percent.
The Athletic's Sam Vecenie laid out his strengths and weaknesses:
"I would imagine Mobley is one of the players I most diverge from consensus. I buy him as an interesting, potential-guarantee guy because of the way his game could translate to what the NBA looks for from modern bigs. He's a killer passer out of short rolls, and he can shoot, which already gives him an enormous leg up on a lot of bigs in today's NBA. He has good defensive awareness for the most part and can slide his feet at a really high level, in addition to his 7-foot-3 wingspan. He might not have the athletic tools to play in the NBA, but I'd be willing to pay with a second-round pick to find out if he got into the 45 to 55 range. I'm something of a believer in Mobley."
Cavaliers fans will hope Isaiah can perform just as well as Evan has. However, Isaiah told The Athletic's Seth Davis that he doesn't "feel any type of pressure to live up to" his brother.
"I'm happy for him. He's been doing well," he said. "We have different journeys, so the comparison doesn't bother me."
Isaiah also told Davis what he thinks about joining the pros.
"I'm a little anxious because I know it won't be easy," he said. "But I'm excited, too. I still have room to grow, but I'm a lot more mature and polished than I was last year. I'm ready to do whatever I have to do to make this work."