Chris Fedor provided a confident claim about the Cleveland Cavaliers' mindset heading into the 2025-26 NBA season. There is a feeling of Cleveland finally being ready to turn the corner and firmly establish themselves as a championship contender inside the Cavaliers organization.
Fedor discussed the subject on a recent episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. The Cavaliers reporter was sharing words that every fan in Cleveland will hold up in excitement of the potential for this 2025-26 campaign.
Fedor said, "There’s a lot of confidence from Kenny [Atkinson], and there’s a lot of confidence from people inside this organization that the Cavs are ready to compete for a championship. ... They do believe they learned what they needed to learn from the latest playoff exit.”
For those that need a refresher, the Cavaliers were bounced in the second round by the Indiana Pacers during the 2025 NBA Playoffs after a 64-win regular season. The Pacers went on to represent the East in the NBA Finals. That is the position Cleveland will want to find themselves next year.
Cavaliers’ hard playoff lesson sets stage for 2025-26 redemption
The question that will interest most is what is the exact lesson that was learned from the 2025 NBA Playoffs that the Cavaliers are taking away from their experience. Atkinson may have dropped hints about that recently as well.
In an interview with Fedor, the Cavaliers head coach discussed the Darius Garland injury and the impact it had on the team's playoff hopes. Atkinson admitted there might have been an opportunity to have done more work to minimize the damage.
"Last year in the playoffs it just hit us and maybe we weren’t as prepared as we could have been," Atkinson said. "If we have to play games without him, this will allow us to kind of experiment a little and see if we can find play-making in other places.”
Injuries have played a heavy factor with this current Cavaliers core. Knowing how to overcome those setbacks may be the takeaway needed for Cleveland to finally put it all together and clear the hurdle of making their first NBA Finals appearance since LeBron James still donned the wine and gold.
The Cavaliers have a deep roster, with plenty of players who can be contributors, heading into the 2025-26 season. They still have the opportunity to boost that group too. Being prepared to maximize the skill sets of each and every guy on the roster would be a great way to overcome any potential injury hurdles that Cleveland may encounter.