The Cavaliers are closing in on the 2026-27 season, and the roster feels like it has room for another breakout or two. Cleveland has had at least one player pop in each of the last few years - Sam Merrill in 2023-24, Ty Jerome in 2024-25 and Jaylon Tyson last season - and there are a few candidates who could follow that same path this year.
Craig Porter Jr. looks like the cleanest place to start. The Cavs need steady backup point guard minutes, and he’s their most versatile option.
He’s also their most experienced option, though that’s not saying much. The issue has been simple: through his first three pro seasons, Porter Jr. has not been nearly aggressive enough from 3-point range.
His touch hasn’t been the concern. His volume has.
He has taken fewer than 1.1 threes per game so far in his career, and if he’s going to win the job for the season, that number has to climb.
Cleveland appears to know that, which is why the organization is pushing him to be more assertive and to speak up more on the floor. The belief is clearly there. Now it’s on Porter to turn that faith into production.
By all accounts, the Cavs still have real confidence in Proctor, and it’s easy to see why. He has flashed enough as an off-ball shooter and as a disruptive defender to look like a player who can grow into a dependable rotation piece. The bigger question has always been where the minutes would come from.
That answer may be coming into focus. With no truly reliable reserve point guard in place, Kenny Atkinson is going to have to experiment with different looks, and Proctor should get a real chance to prove himself.
Atkinson’s recent comments about Proctor’s growth and development point in that direction. If he can become a steadier shooter and take a step forward as a pick-and-roll ballhandler, a breakout season is on the table.
Kenny Atkinson:“Tyrese has made huge gains…physical gains..probably put on 15-20 LBs.”#LetEmKnow
The other reserve forward worth watching is Tyson. Mario Hezonja has generated plenty of attention, but Tyson could be the Cleveland wing who makes the bigger leap.
He already brings the kind of tools teams want on the perimeter: size, athleticism and a competitive edge that shows up possession after possession. He also has a couple of standout skills that matter, ranking in the 90th percentile as a shot blocker and in the 98th percentile as an offensive rebounder.
The obstacle is still the jumper. Tyson has hit just 23.5% of his 3-point tries, and most of those attempts have come as catch-and-shoot looks off the ball. His career mark on those shots is 27-for-112, or 24.1%, and he has not taken advantage of the clean looks either, connecting on only 24.7% of his wide-open attempts, 22 of 89.
Until that changes, defenses won’t have much reason to respect him from deep. If the shot comes around, though, Tyson has a real chance to make a substantial leap in 2026-27.
In Other News...
Evan Mobley Debate Just Got Uncomfortable For The Cavs
A speculative Evan Mobley-for-Matas Buzelis trade idea has surfaced in the kind of offseason chatter that always lands a little harder when it involves a cornerstone player. For Cleveland, the premise is uncomfortable because Mobley remains one of the leagues most valuable young defenders, the sort of player who changes the floor on that end even when the offense is still evolving. For Chicago, Buzelis is the more theoretical piece, a young forward whose appeal rests on the belief that his scoring upside can keep growing into something bigger.
The debate gets interesting because both sides can talk themselves into the basketball fit, even if the idea lives entirely in hypotheticals. Cleveland would be weighing whether to move off a proven defensive anchor for a higher-variance offensive swing, while the Bulls would be asking how much patience they have for Buzelis to reach his ceiling. Nothing about this points to real negotiations, but it is the kind of thought experiment that exposes just how delicate the balance is when a team starts wondering whether its best long-term answer is already in hand. [Read more 🡒]
LeBrons Latest Health Concern Changes Clevelands Biggest What-If
LeBron James latest health update has added another layer to the long-running conversation about what might have been in Cleveland. After leaving for Philadelphia for what is expected to be the final two seasons of his career, James is now dealing with chronic arthritis in his left foot and lower-back issues, according to an ESPN report. It is the kind of news that resonates far beyond his current team, because for Cavaliers fans it brings back the familiar mix of admiration and regret that has followed every twist in his late-career arc.
James reportedly monitors the problems daily as part of his training, and last season he missed about a month because of sciatica. For Philadelphia, the concern is obvious: availability always shapes everything around a player at this stage, from rhythm to lineup stability to the larger ceiling of the season. For Cleveland, it only sharpens the old question of how different things might have looked if this version of James, with all the wear and tear that comes with the miles, had been part of the present instead of another teams future. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Contracts Are About To Start A Real Debate Among Fans
The Cavaliers are heading toward a familiar kind of fan debate, the sort that starts with salary sheets and quickly turns into a larger argument about roster building. With 13 player contracts under the microscope, the discussion centers on how Cleveland balances financial commitment against on-court value, especially when the biggest names on the roster carry the highest expectations and the heaviest price tags.
Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell naturally sit near the heart of that conversation, while other deals invite more pointed questions about role, fit and return on investment. Even a name like James Harden, mentioned in the broader ranking discussion, speaks to how these exercises can force a team to weigh star power against flexibility, leaving Cavaliers fans to judge not just who matters most, but which contracts best support the next step. [Read more 🡒]