30 teams, 30 days: Cleveland Cavaliers | 2026 Season Preview

Welcome to my 30 teams in 30 days series, the most comprehensive and informative previews for every team in the NBA. Inside these posts, you’ll get up to speed with every team’s offseason additions and their roster hierarchies, learn whether they’ve addressed their biggest areas of need, ponder over 5 questions that will define their season and then decide whether you agree with my offseason grades and record predictions.

Notable Additions: Lonzo Ball, Thomas Bryant, Larry Nance Jr., Tyrese Proctor

Notable Subtractions: Ty Jerome, Isaac Okoro, Chuma Okeke, Javonte Green

Depth Chart:

PG: Donovan Mitchell / Lonzo Ball / Craig Porter Jr. / Darius Garland

SG: Sam Merrill / Tyrese Proctor / Max Strus

SF: De’Andre Hunter / Jaylon Tyson / Luke Travers

PF: Evan Mobley / Dean Wade / Nae’qwan Tomlin

C: Jarrett Allen / Thomas Bryant / Larry Nance Jr.

Roster Hierarchy:

Franchise: Evan Mobley, Darius Garland

Core: Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen

Key Rotation: De’Andre Hunter, Lonzo Ball, Jaylon Tyson, Dean Wade, Sam Merrill

Rotation: Thomas Bryant, Tyrese Proctor, Craig Porter Jr., Larry Nance Jr.

Development: Luke Travers, Nae’qwan Tomlin

Cryo Chamber: Max Strus

Offseason Overview:

Cleveland fully committed to their Core 4 before the 2025 season, inking Mitchell to a 3Y/$150M max extension, Mobley to a 5Y/$270M rookie max (with incentives) and Allen to a 3Y/$90M extension. This signified that Altman and the Cavs FO believed in the on-court data transcending beyond their playoff results to that point, posting a+9.4 luck-adjusted net rating with the core on the floor together. Head Coach Kenny Atkinson needed to optimize this team even further however, as CLE was consistently better with just 1 guard + 1 big on the floor than with the entire core.

That gap narrowed substantially in 2025, powering Cleveland to the #1 seed for 165 straight days, thanks to the best offense in the league. There were moments were Cleveland looked like a juggernaut, putting together multiple 15-0 stretches throughout the season, but there were also moments where they looked vulnerable, particularly against teams that could attack their shaky perimeter defense. Indy exploited those vulnerabilities with great success, sending CLE home in the conference semi-finals for the second straight year.

Mobley winning DPOY virtually guaranteed CLE would be a 2nd apron team, forcing them to get creative replacing 6MOTY candidate Ty Jerome. The Core 4 is back again, with a slightly revamped — and most importantly, bigger — roster, betting on these tweaks boosting this team deeper into the playoffs.

Pre-Draft Areas of Need:

🥇 Connectivity: 28th in Touches/Poss (3.87)

🥈 Transition Play: 19th in Deflection Rate (15.5%), 22nd in Transition Frequency (14.6%)

🥉 Glass Control: 25th in Halfcourt DREB% (29.7%), 14th in OREB% (29%)

Cleveland’s offensive areas of need are a direct byproduct of centralizing all the initiation into DG/Spida’s hands — which powered them to the best offense in the league — but also made their offense predictable with one of their handlers out.

Season Outlook:

1. What’s the next step for Evan Mobley?

Mobley has made substantial improvements every year of his career thus far, becoming a more efficient scorer with each passing season. He had strong touch indicators pre-draft, shooting 78.5% at the rim and 45.9% on non-rim 2s — one of 2 freshmen to ever clear 70% rim FG% and 45% non-rim 2 FG% — and attempted just enough 3PA (2.1 per 100 poss) to hint at stretch 5 potential.

It took 2 seasons for Mobley to make his first 3P leap, going from a bottom 10th% shooter (23%) to 66th% (37.3%) on limited volume (1.9 3P/100) in 2024. Evan then maintained his 3P efficiency on dramatically increased volume this past season, shooting 5.1 per 100 possessions (60th%). He paired that leap with the best finishing season of his career thanks to some added bulk and core strength, shooting +10 rTS% on finishing playtypes (97th%), ranking 1st in Points Added on Cuts and 6th in Points Added on finishing plays overall.

With the shooting and finishing refined, CLE needs to test his ability to create for himself and others. His creation volume crept back up to the 87th% among bigs (4.7 creation TSA) but he has remained relatively average on Iso, Post-Ups and PNR scoring.

Cross-screens with Hunter, Pinch/Delay Actions where he can fake handoffs and pindowns where he can attack mismatches if defenses switch OR burn bigs off the dribble that try and closeout should help develop his creation game even further.

2. Can De’Andre Hunter solidify the wing room?

CLE has been searching for a 2-way wing from the moment they acquired Donovan Mitchell. They’ve tried the more defensively oriented wings (Okoro, Stevens, etc.) but found that they sacrificed too much offensive value. Niang/Levert/Osman/Strus/Merrill were/are awesome offensive fits, but leave the core 4 without someone to handle primary matchups.

Dean Wade has been the best intersection of these options, as a capable 3P shooter, awesome defender, and most importantly, actual positional size at ~6’10. According to @bowser2bowser, the Cavs play 1 big (Mobley or JA) 50% of the time, during which they’re 10 points BETTER w/ Dean Wade. Unfortunately, Wade’s health has prevented him from ever playing more than 1500 regular season minutes and he is one of the least willing shooters in the league (10.9 TSA1 per 100, 3rd%).

As a result, DeAndre Hunter — the Cavs deadline acquisition — is the most complete wing this roster has seen in the past 3 years, moreso by default rather than his skillset. Dre is coming off the best efficiency of his career, thanks to his development in Quin’s system as a quick decision maker getting to his spots, but as Hawks fans know too well, he has his limitations as a defender, rebounder and passer.

He isn’t anywhere near the defender Dean is both on and off the ball, but he’s the superior offensive player and should be an upgrade over any other option simply by being 6’8 with a 7’2 WS.

3. Will Atkinson be able to identify a definitive 5th starter?

The Cavs search for a complimentary wing has made the “5th starter” a revolving door since they built the Core 4. Having options based on matchups seems nice in theory, but it becomes an issue when there’s no decisive choice on who closes games, a dilemma we’ve seen bottleneck teams like the Lob City Clippers for decades.

Sam/Strus/Lonzo/Dean/Dre all have their pros and cons, but Cleveland has to use the first quarter of the season to identify which guy will be the 5th guy in crunch time. In medium/high leverage situations (non-garbage time), CLE played their core 4 with Strus or Wade the most frequently. In the high/very high leverage situations (close games with very little time left in the game), Atkinson closed with Okoro more than anyone else. I imagine they have Dre pencilled in as the starter, given Altman’s comments during Media Day and those closing lineups will come down to whoever’s shooting better, Dre or Wade, with a bit of Lonzo sprinkled in against smaller teams.

4. How can they improve their “out of structure” offensive execution?

The Cavs PNR dominance made them one of the best on-ball offenses in the league, belying one of their bigger weaknesses, as this team was 22nd in Iso PPP (0.87). It may seem like nitpicking to say the #1 offense in the league could get better, but this now makes 2 seasons in a row where they ranked in the bottom 3rd of the league creating offense from a standstill.

This team is too reliant on Mitchell in this department, with his 167 iso possessions comprising 37% (15th) of their total team iso volume (420, 20th). Ty (42 isos) and Caris (38 isos) are no longer on the roster, which should theoretically open up opportunities for Mobley as a self-creator. Garland needs more reps once he’s healthy as well, thus the Cavs need Mitchell to not monopolize the self-creation.

5. How can Atkinson prepare his rotation for the playoffs?

HC Kenny Atkinson was criticized for his playoff rotations in the semifinals, particularly playing Mitchell and Mobley under 36 mins each in close losses in Games 1 and 2. He was quoted saying he couldn’t ramp up rotation guys minutes in the playoffs because they weren’t in good enough condition.

CLE was constantly blowing out teams by 20+ points which caused their starters to hardly see the floor in the 4th quarter. This dominance + injuries led to their core 4 sharing the court for just 1638 possessions, 20.6% of CLE’s total possessions! Cleveland only had 3 lineups that played 300 or more possessions with their most played lineup sharing the floor for a tiny 523 possessions. Kenny will likely need to ramp the Core 4 up at least 2MPG (nobody played more than 31.4 MPG last year) so the jump to 38-40 isn’t so draining in the playoffs.

Record Prediction

Total Wins Over/Under: 54.5 via BetMGM

Floor: 49–33 (-15 wins)

I think this Cavs team could take a number of risks during the regular season, experimenting with lineups, playstyles and usage to be a more prepared team in the playoffs. That could lead to a dip in regular season dominance, but that’s more than justifiable if they can make a meaningful playoff run. They’ll also be starting the season with a couple lingering injuries to Strus and DG, which likely dampens the repeatability of their ridiculous undefeated stretch to start the 2025 season.

Ceiling: 60–22 (-4 wins)

As mentioned above, I’m anticipating the Cavs to shave off a couple of points of their net rating in an aim to be more resilient in May.

Let me know if you agree with my predictions! What are your expectations for the Cavs this season?

Overall Grade: B+

Up Next: Sacramento Kings