The 2025-26 NBA season is here! We’re rolling out our previews — examining the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and win projections for all 30 franchises — from the still-rebuilding teams to the true title contenders.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
2024-25 finish
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Record: 64-18 (first in East, lost to the Pacers in the second round)
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Offensive rating: 121 (1st)
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Defensive rating: 111.8 (8th)
Offseason moves
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Additions: Lonzo Ball, Larry Nance Jr.
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Subtractions: Ty Jerome, Isaac Okoro
The Big Question: Can the Cavaliers get over the hump?
The Cavaliers won 64 games last season, winning the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
They are stacked again, featuring four players who have each made at least one All-Star team: Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen. (Garland required offseason toe surgery, but participated in a 5-on-5 practice this week and is nearing a return.) They replaced their Sixth Man of the Year candidate, Ty Jerome, with Lonzo Ball, adding the former No. 2 overall pick to a wing rotation that includes De’Andre Hunter, Max Strus (who will miss the start of the season), Dean Wade and Sam Merrill.
There is some overlap on the ball between Mitchell and Garland in the backcourt, though the former ceded some control of the offense last season, and it worked to great success. Same goes for Mobley and Allen in the frontcourt, though Mobley’s development as a perimeter player has helped their spacing.
Regardless, the Cavaliers have a ton of talent, enough to win a lot of games again, especially in the East. The respective absences of Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton for the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers — the East’s last two champions — have left the Cavs and New York Knicks as clear-cut favorites.
But the regular season is practically an afterthought in Cleveland. We know they’re going to be good, even if they do not win as many games as last season, but are they good enough to win in the playoffs?
The Cavs have suffered a pair of second-round exits over the past two years, losing in five games to the East’s eventual champions each time. Injuries played a part. No doubt. And Cleveland will tell itself that throughout the season. But how much of the issue is that overlap in skill sets among its best players?
A lot of that will depend on the development of Mobley. He averaged a 19-9-3 on 56/37/73 shooting splits last season at the age of 24, making the All-NBA second team and winning Defensive Player of the Year.
And there is room for growth.
Mobley created more off the dribble last season and increased his 3-point attempts to 3.2 per game. Can he make more plays for himself and others on the outside this season? Can he, as many have said, be a young Kevin Garnett — a terrifying force on both ends of the court? It is within the realm of possibility.
[Get more Cavaliers news: Cleveland team feed]
Pair him with Mitchell, a playoff dynamo, and the Cavs should be tough to beat in the playoffs. Perhaps the toughest to beat of any team in the East. But they must behave that way. It is Finals or bust for the Cavs.
For on the other side of another early playoff exit is a reshuffling of the deck. If Cleveland meets a second-round ceiling again, and if injuries are no longer an excuse, the Cavaliers cannot enter another season with the same roster. They will shop Allen and/or Garland and try to make sense of the rotation.
No pressure, then. If this team wants to stay together, it has to win together.
Best-case scenario
Mitchell plays as he did last season, using fewer possessions and maximizing the opportunities he does create. That allows Garland to excel, and the two guards carry their chemistry into the postseason. Meanwhile, Mobley is an absolute menace, wreaking havoc on both ends of the floor, even offensively, where his development is the ceiling raiser for this team. With another season in the system, Hunter fills Cleveland’s hole on the wing, and the Cavs win the East, giving themselves a real shot at a championship.
If everything falls apart
Same old status quo. Mitchell reverts to the player he was before, dominating the ball, and Garland cannot be maximized as a result. The ceiling for Mobley is lower than we think. He is still a top-flight defender but a work in progress on the offensive end, and that overlaps with Allen. Hunter is not the answer on the wing, and Cleveland feels the pain of losing Jerome more than it imagined, whether or not Ball can stay healthy. The Cavs fall short of playoff expectations again, and changes are on the horizon.
2025-26 schedule
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Season opener: Oct. 22 at New York
Over/under win total: 56.5
Seriously, who else is winning as many games as the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference? Some team is going to win 60 games, and it might as well be the team that did it last year — a team that brought back its core and may have even improved over the summer. Take the over. For the regular season, at least.
More season previews
East: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards
West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • LA Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pelicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz
