Few teams have more pressure on them for the 2025-26 NBA season than the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Their historic 64-win season went up in flames before they even sniffed the conference finals last year. That hasn’t sat right with anybody. Add to this a growing cap sheet that will cause unsustainable tax penalties — and we have a situation that’s reaching a boiling point.
All this to say, next season is do-or-die.
This time around, no one will be satisfied with regular season success. We’re all waiting for
it to translate to the playoffs. That’s the only place this roster can prove itself in any permanent way.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There are 82 games left to play before the postseason begins. And while the regular season isn’t everything… it certainly doesn’t mean nothing. Virtually every team that has won a championship was great in the regular season. Only two teams in NBA history have won a title after finishing lower than the third seed. So, there’s at least some correlation between the regular season and playoffs.
Of course, there isn’t always a direct translation.
The Cavs did it all last year. In the regular season, I mean. They had the best start in franchise history (15-0), pulled together for another 12-game winning streak one month later— and then rallied again for a franchise record 16 straight wins in the second half of the season.
Evan Mobley won Defensive Player of the Year, earning All-Star and All-NBA honors along the way. Donovan Mitchell reached All-NBA First Team while Darius Garland returned to All-Star status. Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter finished as Sixth Man of the Year Finalists. Kenny Atkinson won Coach of the Year.
There was nothing else the Cavs could have accomplished in the regular season. And yet, you know how the story ends. They fell woefully short of the ultimate goal.
So, with all that in mind, why would anyone care about the upcoming regular season?
Here’s the thing: Right now, the Cavs are a team that has one spectacular season under their belt. They weren’t anything special in the years before, finishing fourth in the East for consecutive years. Determining whether last year was an outlier — or something that can be repeated — will tell us a lot about the Cavs.
Is Mobley someone who made the All-NBA team because his team won 64 games? Or is he going to stamp himself as an All-NBA lock for the foreseeable future?
Can Garland and Mitchell continue to lead the league’s best offense? Or was last year built on a foundation of three-point shooting that can’t continue?
Mitchell has been a borderline top-10 player the last three seasons. His three-level scoring is something you can’t take for granted. Having any of this click together again is no guarantee.
Another season of roaring success in February would indicate something is working. A major lapse would be the opposite. Life in the NBA is too fragile to think that lackluster months are acceptable for a second apron team that hasn’t won anything yet.
We don’t expect another 64-win season. But there is a power vacuum in the Eastern Conference that should have Cleveland salivating. Boston and Indiana are injured. Milwaukee doesn’t have a strong enough supporting cast around Giannis Antetokounmpo. The 76ers likely missed their window with Joel Embiid.
A new leader has to emerge. There is no reason it shouldn’t be the Cavaliers.
Let’s put it this way. You can say the “regular season doesn’t matter” all you want. But if the Cavs finish below New York, Atlanta, Orlando and Detroit — then you’re going to be pissed. Rightfully so. Cleveland has a roster that matches or surpasses each of them. They should be the top dog.
Again, winning in the playoffs is more important than anything else. Yet getting to the playoffs as the team that dominated all year long is still something worth aspiring for.
You can argue there’s a reality in which the Cavs win 50 games and coast the rest of the way to get to the playoffs healthy.
I would disagree.
This isn’t a LeBron-level team that can flip a switch and problem-solve as they go. This is a team that has repeatedly failed in the playoffs and still has some serious soul-searching to do.
Every game in the regular season is an opportunity to grow. It shouldn’t be overlooked. Not for this team.
