The Eastern Conference is flux with injuries and player movement, giving the cohesive Cleveland Cavaliers a clear path to conference domination.
Cleveland entered the 2025 NBA Playoffs with the conference-best 64-18 record. After a brutal sweep against the Miami Heat, the Cavs ran into a buzzsaw Indiana Pacers team who bullied Cleveland into an early offseason with a five-game series beatdown. As the Cavaliers faced another embarrassing postseason end, they watched as the conference imploded with injuries and a dramatic free agency period.
In the playoffs, East contenders fell apart as Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton all suffered season-ending Achilles tears. The Celtics responded by exiting the second apron, trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis for lesser talent but drastic cap space improvement. Dropping financial investments can enable Boston to reenter the Finals chase once Tatum returns the following season.
As for the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers, the responses have been questionable at best. The Pacers lost Myles Turner in a dynamic shift as the 10-year Indiana veteran left to join the rival Bucks. NBA media raced to discover how Turner signed a four-year, $107 million contract with a team well beyond being a cap space buyer.
Shortly after the Turner news dropped, the real bombshell of the league manifested. Milwaukee could afford Turner by waiving and stretching Damian Lillard's final two years, worth $113 million. With roughly $22.5 million of dead cap space on payroll for the next half decade, the Bucks made a desperate move to leave behind an injured Lillard and add a world-class center around Giannis Antetokounmpo to silence trade rumors.
Of all the teams in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers undoubtedly benefit the most from the chaos unfolding.
Cleveland's cohesion is paying off
The Cavaliers have an open path to the Eastern Conference Finals. While the New York Knicks' unexpected coaching search has finally ended with former Cavs coach Mike Brown joining the Big Apple squad, Cleveland's rivals are all in turmoil. For Cleveland, though the core four still has question marks for long-term viability, the Cavs are maintaining the cohesion that gave them a 64-win regular season.
Doubling down on a young group and adding more veteran talent like Lonzo Ball and Larry Nance, Jr. could be the perfect formula to be the leading favorites to win the conference. The Atlanta Hawks are the only conference rival with noticeable improvements this offseason, adding Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Still, Cleveland should have the advantage over Atlanta in a seven-game series.
Milwaukee's relationship with Lillard had been frayed since the day he joined the franchise. The nine-time All-Star guard never seemed to fit the Bucks' system or find joy playing for a new team after 11 seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. Ending the tenure by sacrificing years of financial stability without building a reliable backcourt rotation could become a long-term burden the Bucks are not prepared to address.
The Pacers, though holding onto Haliburton and the supporting cast, reportedly were unwilling to negotiate a fair contract with Turner that would have moved the team into luxury tax territory for the first time in two decades. Haliburton's injury left ownership uneasy with the cap penalties, leaving Turner to move on with nothing in return.
More now than ever, the pressure for the Cleveland Cavaliers finally to prove that this core is worth entering the second apron has arrived. In the 2025-26 season, the Cavaliers will have no excuse to fall short of the conference finals if not the Finals.