Evan Mobley’s dad says he used to play ‘mind games’ with his sons: ‘You guys can’t shoot today’

Long before Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley staked his claim as a two-way force in the NBA, his dad Eric played professional basketball. He competed in Portugal, Mexico and Indonesia, and he also spent time in the World Basketball League.

The elder Mobley recently shared that his sons Evan and Isaiah would often help him train back in the day and that he would sometimes play mind games with them when they wanted to get their own shots up.

“Evan would rebound, and Isaiah would pass it to me, and I would get up my 100 shots or whatever it was,” Eric Mobley told the Akron Beacon Journal. “They also wanted to get involved. They wanted to get shots in, too, so I would incorporate them as well. And at times, I would just tell them, ‘No, you guys can’t shoot today ’cause you guys ain’t mentally ready for it,’ just play little mind games with them.”

While Evan Mobley is by all accounts still in the early stages of his NBA tenure, he is already making a name for himself in the top basketball league in the world.

He is only 23 years old but will make his All-Star debut this weekend amid what has been a career year for him. He’s averaging a career-high 18.5 points per game while shooting 56.9 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from deep.

Evan Mobley has had a great career in the NBA to this point, but he’s not the only one of Eric Mobley’s sons who’s played in the NBA.

Isaiah Mobley was drafted by the Cavaliers with a second-round pick back in the 2022 NBA Draft, and he has played 22 total regular-season contests in the league. Most recently, he suited up in 10 games with Cleveland back in the 2023-24 regular season and averaged 2.3 points and 1.0 rebound per game in that span. He’s currently with the Philadelphia 76ers’ G League team.

Eric Mobley, these days, is an assistant coach at the collegiate level. Basketball clearly runs in the Mobley family, and with any luck, there will be nothing but success ahead for each member of the crew. There is certainly plenty of time for all of them to add to their legacies in the coming years.