LeBron James is heading into his 24th NBA season, and the league still can’t stop staring at him.
That’s the backdrop for a Cleveland Cavaliers team that finally broke through last season by getting out of the second round and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, only to be swept once they got there. Now the Cavaliers believe they’re better equipped for the next step, with added defensive help and a core that has had more time to build chemistry on the floor.
But the East is getting crowded fast. Philadelphia made the loudest move of the offseason by landing James and Jaylen Brown, and that shift came at Cleveland’s expense. The Cavaliers wanted James back for the final stretch of his career, but the 76ers won that battle and turned themselves into a far more dangerous contender.
James’ arrival gives Philadelphia more credibility right away, even if he’s being viewed as the team’s fourth option. That alone says plenty about the depth the 76ers have assembled - and why Cleveland will have its hands full trying to keep pace.
The respect around James hasn’t faded, either. Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report named him the most fascinating player entering the 2026-27 NBA season, a reminder that even at this stage of his career, he still commands the spotlight like no one else.
For the Cavaliers, the challenge is obvious. They’ve got a deep roster and a frontcourt that can give anybody problems, and they believe they can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the league. But now they’ll have to do it with their franchise icon wearing the other uniform.
That first meeting comes quickly. Cleveland opens its season against James and the 76ers on October 22 on the road, giving the Cavaliers an early chance to make a statement.
In Other News...
James Hardens New NBA Standing Says A Lot About Clevelands Ceiling
James Hardens place in the league may not look the same as it once did, but the Cavaliers are still betting on what he can do for a team with real postseason ambitions. Bleacher Reports latest ranking slotted the veteran guard 30th among NBA players, a reminder that he is no longer being discussed in the same tier as the leagues absolute elites. Even so, Harden still gave Cleveland steady production last season and remains a central part of a starting group built around Donovan Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
Hardens role matters because Cleveland is not asking him to carry everything anymore, only to help lift a roster that believes it can make a deeper run. He averaged 19.2 points and 5.5 assists in the playoffs last season, numbers that hint at why the Cavaliers brought him back on a three-year contract. The bigger question now is how much higher this group can climb with Harden in a more defined position, and whether his standing around the league matches the value Cleveland thinks he still brings. [Read more 🡒]
LeBron Still Looms Over How Cavs Fans Judge This Team
LeBron James set a standard in Cleveland that still hangs over every conversation about the Cavaliers, from the parade of Finals runs to the title in 2016. Even after his departure, the franchise has shown it can climb back into the Easts upper tier, but the measuring stick for fans remains unusually high because they once watched him carry this team to places it had rarely been before.
That backdrop matters now because the current group is being judged as much by what came before as by what it is building in the present. The Cavs have moved well past the post-LeBron reset, and the core they are trying to shape has made real progress, but the next step is always framed against a legacy that still defines what success looks like in Cleveland. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Still Have One Familiar Problem They Must Fix Fast
The Cavaliers are out of preseason now and into the part of the calendar where the details start to matter more, especially the ones that have been easy to overlook in exhibition play. Cleveland has already identified a few issues to clean up before the games count, but the one that stands out most is the same sort of hard-nosed problem that tends to show up again if it is not addressed quickly: rebounding and the physical tone of the game.
Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen have carried a lot of that load inside, but the Cavaliers need more help from the wings if they are going to hold up over the long haul. Kenny Atkinson also wants this offense moving with more purpose, with less reliance on isolation and more shared ball movement, and those two fixes often go hand in hand. If Cleveland can sharpen both ends at once, it will look a lot more like a team ready to compete the way it expects to. [Read more 🡒]