The Nets are Cavs’ biggest rival for the next 5 years

Who will be better between Cavs and Nets?

Now we come to the key question: who will be better over the next five years, the Cavs or the Nets?

Right now, the answer is the Nets, because basketball success is truly measured in championship equity, and the team with Kevin Durant always has a hearty helping of that. In 5 years he will be 38, Irving (if he is still around) will be 35 and the Nets’ depleted chest of draft picks will be unlikely to yield a young superstar to pair with them. In 5 years Garland, Allen and Mobley will be firmly in their primes, and it’s entirely possible the Cavs have added another key piece to the mix via cap space or trade.

How quickly does the pendulum swing from Nets to Cavs? It probably swings faster if Irving walks this summer, or if Ben Simmons can’t get back to his fringe All-Star form. It also swings faster if Mobley continues to improve at his current rate, becoming a Defensive Player of the Year contender by next season and growing into his offensive role. If Collin Sexton accepts a role as a super-sub, Isaac Okoro discovers a jumpshot or Dean Wade becomes the next Bruce Bowen, this team will overtake the Nets even faster.

Either way, it seems likely that in 2024, 2025, 2026, as this young core hits its stride, it will be contending with the likes of Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets for the throne at the top of the Eastern Conference. If they figure out their wing positions they could go from plucky upstart challenger to elite youthful dominance, the kind of team Durant himself remembers from his days in Oklahoma City.

There are other teams that will be in the mix over the next five years as well, and we will detail them over the coming days as we continue “Rivals Week”. Right now the Nets have a top-15 player of all time in his late prime; to be the best, the Cavs will need to take him down. That makes the Nets a top contender to be the Cavs’ biggest rival over the next five years.