INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — Koby Altman’s midseason trade for James Harden was supposed to be the move that got the Cleveland Cavaliers back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2018.
After the New York Knicks dominated in their four-game sweep of the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, Harden’s return is just one of many questions at the top of the roster Altman and the front office will need to figure out over the next month.
“We’re not
in the conference finals without James. We’re in the second apron (of the salary cap) as of right now and we need to figure out what pieces we can bring back. The CBA puts that if you have a really good deep roster, you have to make difficult decisions,” Altman, the Cavaliers' president of basketball operations, said on Friday.
Cleveland will need to make pivotal decisions on three of its four core players this offseason. The first is Harden, who has a $42.3 million player option for next season. He could decline to re-sign with the Cavs for multiple years.
The 36-year-old Harden averaged 10.7 points and 1.7 turnovers for the Cavaliers in 26 regular-season games. He averaged 19.7 points in the postseason, but his turnovers also went up to 4.7 per game, including five or more in 10 of Cleveland's 18 games. He also struggled on defense.
“I think people need to take a step back and realize we didn’t trade for MVP James Harden, we traded for James Harden at the end of his career that has transformed himself to becoming one of the best point guards in the league,” Altman said. “We were kind of shaky there in terms of our belief and when he came on board, he gave us a real belief in swagger.”
Altman and owner Dan Gilbert also need to decide when to offer All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell an extension and if forward Evan Mobley is one of the franchise's cornerstones moving forward.
Mitchell has two seasons remaining on his contract. The Cavaliers can offer a four-year, $272 million extension beginning on July 7, or Mitchell could wait until next year, when he would be eligible for the five-year supermax contract worth $350 million.
The 29-year-old Mitchell averaged 27.9 points, 5.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds during the regular season. He averaged 26 points in the playoffs and had six games where he scored at least 30.
“When we have a superstar of his caliber that wants to be in Cleveland, that’s our best ambassador, that’s our best recruiter. There’s guys that are here that wouldn’t be here without him, quite frankly," Altman said. "So I think the bigger question is, the one that’s been answered is, does he want be here and does he want to be here long term? And I think he’s answered that.”
Mobley's future depends on if the Cavaliers want to go all-in on acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Milwaukee Bucks' All-Star forward is likely to be dealt this summer with speculation on Mobley being part of a package.
“I'm not going to speculate on any players outside of these walls. All I can tell you is since Evan’s been here, we’ve had the third-best record in the league," Altman said. “He’s been remarkable for us in terms of our ascent the last five years. He’s a huge part of what we do. He knows he needs to get better. When we sat down and talked to him, we talked about the intangible stuff and I even saw the skillset stuff.”
Mobley — the 2024-25 NBA Defensive Player of the Year — had a slow start to the season, which included a pair of calf injuries. He looked like a more dominant player during the postseason, when he averaged 17 points and 8.1 rebounds.
Coach Kenny Atkinson will be back for a third season despite some wondering if he was going to be fired after the sweep by the Knicks. After 64 regular-season wins and the top seed in the East in 2024-25, the Cavaliers had 52 victories in the regular season and were the fourth seed in the East. However, they did get to the conference finals for the first time in eight years.
Atkinson dealt with more roster upheaval and injuries in his second season. The Cavaliers had 41 starting lineup combinations during the regular season and only eight games where the core four of Mitchell, Harden, Mobley and Jarrett Allen all played in the same game.
Trying to find chemistry on the fly and not having the full roster until late in the regular season were factors in why Cleveland was pushed to seven games before beating Toronto and Detroit.
Without at least two straight days off for nearly a month, the Cavaliers were showing signs of fatigue. Despite that, they had a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter in Game 1 against the Knicks before New York had the second-biggest comeback in an NBA playoff game in the last 30 years to win in overtime.
“The Knicks were tremendous. I think over the last 10 games, they’re playing at an offensive efficiency unlike anything we’ve seen in the playoffs,” Altman said. “If we’re being honest and transparent, when we lost Game 1 that really impacted us and that was the time to sort of put them on their heels and stop that momentum that they had and we gave that one away. If we’re going to use legs as an excuse, then that means we've got to start now in terms of our preparation, endurance and durability, because everyone’s going through that right now.”
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