The Cleveland Cavaliers just suffered an embarrassing series loss to the New York Knicks, but things aren't getting any easier for Cleveland this offseason.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Cavaliers are going to have to juggle plenty of complicated roster decisions this summer, and absolutely no one knows what direction they'll head in.
“They’re in that club with Minnesota and Denver,” Stein said of the Cavs during the All NBA Podcast. “They are looking at nothing but difficult decisions.”
Cavaliers have thorny offseason of brutal decisions ahead of them
Stein also asserted that the Cavs lost the Eastern Conference Finals as soon as they blew a 22-point lead and collapsed in Game 1. He's right. The Knicks came into the ECF absolutely rolling, and Game 1 was the one chance the Cavs had to stop the Knicks in their tracks and define the momentum of the entire series. By squandering that opportunity, Cleveland only enhanced New York’s momentum, and the series was over from then on.
Furthermore, as the Eastern Conference Finals wore on, immense fatigue began to show up for a Cavs team that had already been through a pair of seven-game series in the playoffs leading up to that point. They barely had a chance to catch their breath after Game 7 of the Detroit Pistons series before beginning this challenge against the Knicks, and both Donovan Mitchell and James Harden looked gassed from pretty much Game 2 onwards in the ECF, particularly defensively.
What’s more, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson made some very questionable coaching decisions in the series and didn’t make the necessary adjustments (like trusting his bench more) to salvage things against the Knicks (or even to stay afloat and keep the series competitive, for that matter).
What are the Cavaliers going to decide on for 2026-27 roster construction?
Now, the Cavaliers are staring at a 36-year-old Harden and probably second-guessing whether they truly want to re-sign Harden to a long-term deal if and when he opts out of his $42.3 million player option this summer. That’s just one of the difficult decisions that Stein alluded to. Others include what to do about the other three members of Cleveland’s core four — you could construct a sound argument for trading any one of Mitchell, Evan Mobley, or Jarrett Allen this offseason, with plenty of fans and/or analysts believing that the smartest thing for Cleveland to do is blow things up and rebuild.
If Cleveland is indeed going to rebuild, one would assume that keeping Mobley in place and moving everyone else would be the best path. Then again, trading Mobley might give you the best chance to haul in some quality assets with which to begin a new era. Time will tell what Cleveland's front office has in mind, but it certainly doesn't make much sense at all to run things back with a similar core in 2026-27.
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