ESPN has the Cleveland Cavaliers in familiar company heading into the next NBA season, slotting them alongside the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons in the same tier.
That grouping comes from ESPN’s Zach Kram, who labeled Cleveland, Boston and Detroit as “regular-season win machines.” It’s a fitting tag for a Cavaliers team that has already shown it can pile up results, even if the ceiling question still hangs over them.
Cleveland’s last run made that clear. The Cavaliers knocked off Toronto and Detroit to get to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, their first trip there since 1992 without LeBron James on the roster. Their postseason ended there, though, with the New York Knicks - the 2026 champions after beating the San Antonio Spurs - sweeping them in the conference finals.
The front office spent the summer trying to push the roster forward, and the clearest swing came with the addition of Watson. Cleveland needed a small forward after LeBron left for the Philadelphia 76ers and Dean Wade departed for Philadelphia as well, and Watson fills that hole as one of the league’s best two-way wings.
Last season with the Nuggets, Watson put up 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 49.1% from the field, 41.1% from three and 73.0% at the line. He then signed a four-year, $88 million deal with the Cavaliers that includes a player option and a trade kicker.
The other major summer move was keeping Donovan Mitchell in place long term. Mitchell agreed to a four-year, $273 million maximum contract extension with Cleveland, a huge commitment to the player the Cavaliers acquired from the Utah Jazz in 2022.
Mitchell has delivered since arriving, averaging 26.7 points per game in the regular season and 27.3 points per game in the playoffs in a Cleveland uniform.
The Cavaliers open next season in Philadelphia against LeBron and the 76ers, a matchup that should bring plenty of noise right away. And with Harden, Mitchell, Watson, Mobley and Allen all in the mix, the question is simple: can that core finally win a championship? We’ll find out soon.
In Other News...
Cavs Missed Out On A Veteran Scorer Denver Just Landed
The veteran scorer market keeps moving, and DeMar DeRozan now has a new home in Denver after the Nuggets finalized a sign-and-trade framework and brought him in on a one-year veteran minimum deal. The move fills the wing spot left by Peyton Watson and gives Denver another proven half-court option, the kind of addition that can shift a rotation without changing the overall shape of a roster.
For Cleveland, it is another reminder of how quickly the right veteran can come off the board. DeRozan had been agreed to weeks ago before the deal became official, and his landing spot immediately bolsters a Nuggets team looking for reliable offense on the perimeter. For a Cavs club always weighing scoring help and lineup fit, it is the sort of transaction worth noticing even after the paperwork is done. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Have One Big Question As Pressure Builds Around Mitchell And Mobley
Clevelands season ended with real progress on paper and a familiar sting in the spring, as the Cavaliers finished 50-32, pushed into the Eastern Conference Finals and then were swept by the Knicks. The front office also kept reworking the roster along the way, bringing in James Harden on a multi-year deal while Dennis Schrder and Keon Ellis moved on, and Peyton Watson emerged as one of the more encouraging additions after a breakout season.
Now the pressure shifts back to the players who define the ceiling. Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell remain the names Cleveland will lean on most, and the question hanging over the franchise is whether that core can finally turn regular-season success into a deeper playoff run. The supporting cast has changed, but the expectation around the Cavaliers has only gotten heavier. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Are Betting Big On Evan Mobley Becoming Something More
The Cavaliers spent an offseason full of star-shopping around the league and still decided Evan Mobley was too important to move. In a summer when several superstar names were available, Cleveland held tight to the 25-year-old All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year, signaling that it sees him as much more than a cornerstone on defense.
Mobley is entering the heart of his prime, and the organization is betting that the next step in his game will be the one that changes everything. The Cavs believe he can grow into a dominant two-way force and, just as important, an offensive leader who helps define where this roster goes next. [Read more 🡒]