The Cavs spent part of Friday answering a question that hung over their summer: what happens when LeBron James chooses someone else?
James signed with Philadelphia after Cleveland was among the teams he met with, and the franchise’s response was telling. President Koby Altman made it clear the Cavs were not going to let one decision define their offseason.
“We can’t be reliant on one outcome (James’ decision),” said Altman. “We couldn’t have hit the mat in terms of, ‘Oh, man … woe is us.’
We’re not built that way with all due respect to the decision and the magnitude of the decision. I think we’re super competitive regardless of the one outcome.”
That is the reality for Cleveland now. James is still a remarkable player, but he’s 41, missed 22 games last season because of sciatica and lower back problems, and is no longer the force who once powered Miami and Cleveland to eight straight NBA Finals from 2011-18.
In his eight seasons with the Lakers, he won one title in 2020 and reached the Western Conference finals once in 2023, while the rest of the run brought plenty of disappointment. He can’t shoulder a team the way he used to.
For heaven’s sake, he’s 41!
So the Cavs moved forward without waiting around for a reunion that never came.
Altman called the offseason “a resounding” success, a description that will not land with everyone in Cleveland because no marquee free agent arrived. But the league has changed, and the recent champions have shown that the old formula is fading.
The Knicks, the Thunder, the Celtics and the Nuggets all built their teams through the draft, player development and targeted moves rather than giant summer splashes. The last repeat champion was Golden State in 2017 and 2018.
The Cavs won their title in 2016.
That’s the lane Cleveland is trying to live in now.
One of the biggest pieces came through a trade for Peyton Watson. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward, described by Altman as “rangy and bouncy,” gives the Cavs the kind of size and athleticism they need on the wing. Atkinson praised Watson’s defense, size and athleticism, the sort of tools that caused problems for Cleveland against Toronto, Detroit and New York in the 2026 playoffs.
Watson’s path to Cleveland had some James-adjacent intrigue. He shares an agent, Rich Paul, with James, and Cleveland native Paul was also in the mix because he represents Tyrese Maxey.
James listed Maxey as one of the reasons he chose Philadelphia, and Paul’s agency also represents Sixers coach Nick Nurse. Watson was a restricted free agent with Denver and turned down a four-year, $70 million deal to stay there.
Cleveland then worked a five-team trade to land him on a four-year, $88 million deal, knowing it had a backup plan if James went elsewhere.
The Cavs also locked in Donovan Mitchell with a four-year extension, a move that feels far bigger than the reaction it got locally. Mitchell, now 30, is the second-best player in franchise history behind James and has become the kind of star Cleveland can build around without drama. Since he arrived in the summer of 2022, the Cavs have posted the third-best regular-season record in the NBA, trailing only Boston and Oklahoma City, and they reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since James left in 2018.
There was more movement around the margins, too. The Cavs traded Darius Garland, another Paul client, for James Harden, and Harden helped them get to the Eastern Conference finals.
Garland still has to prove he’s fully recovered from toe injuries. Harden, 36, signed a three-year, $97 million deal that functions more like a two-year, $97 million arrangement stretched over three seasons to help Cleveland get out from under the salary-cap first and second aprons.
The front office also likes what it has seen from rookie guard Meleek Thomas. He averaged 27 points in the summer league, and the coaching staff has been equally encouraged by what he’s shown in workouts with veterans. Jaylon Tyson and Tyrese Proctor have also stood out in those sessions.
And while Max Strus was part of the deal that sent Watson to Cleveland, the Cavs clearly made the move with a cold-eyed view of the roster. Strus brought shooting and a good attitude, but injuries have limited him to 62 games over the last two seasons, with 102 missed.
So while the summer didn’t deliver LeBron James back to Cleveland, the Cavs still came out with a clearer shape: Watson added, Mitchell retained, Thomas in the pipeline, and the salary-cap mess eased without sacrificing any core pieces.
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Mitchell also pointed to the value of having James Harden through a full training camp, a detail that speaks to how much this group is trying to use every available rep to sharpen its identity. The message from Mitchell was less about looking back and more about what comes next, with Cleveland focused on moving forward and building chemistry before the season begins. [Read more 🡒]