The Cleveland Cavaliers won 64 games in 2024-25, but ultimately lost in the second round of the playoffs. To make matters worse, the best regular season the franchise has ever played without LeBron James ended with being on the wrong end of a gentleman's sweep.
Months after the season went up in flames, starting forward De'Andre Hunter offered a brutally honest assessment of what went wrong.
Cleveland completed a clean sweep of the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, but soon encountered adversity against the Indiana Pacers. They led Game 1 102-101 with 6:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, but were outscored 20-10 from that point on—thus marking the beginning of a devastating 4-1 series loss.
According to Jamal Collier of ESPN, Hunter attributes the Cavaliers ending a 64-win season with a whimper to mental weakness.
"It was more mental than anything," Hunter told ESPN. "Game 1, that's the game we're supposed to win. We win that game and the series is completely different. We just kind of were mentally weak, at times, and they were mentally stronger. I don't think it was anything physical. I don't think it was any skill gap," Hunter continued. "I literally just think it was all mental."
It's the quiet truth that was otherwise unspoken, but perhaps Hunter saying it out loud is exactly what the Cavaliers needed to finally make the leap.
De'Andre Hunter says Cavaliers' 64-win team was "mentally weak"
Hunter is by no means taking shots at his teammates, as he's instead taking accountability for his own role in the result. He's also acknowledging what has already been stated and believed by many around the NBA after Cleveland crumbled under pressure against the Pacers.
After getting dominated during the final six minutes of Game 1 and losing Game 2 on a clutch shot, Cleveland responded with a Game 3 win on the road—only to get blown out in Game 4.
It was a shocking turn of events for a team that lost just 22 games between the regular season and the playoffs. Injuries played a factor, of course, as All-Stars Darius Garland and Evan Mobley missed time and never truly seemed like themselves when they were on the court.
Cleveland was the favored team with two other All-Stars in the starting lineup, however, and never seemed to truly click once adversity was brought to their doorstep.
Thankfully, Hunter is saying the quiet part out loud and taking on something of a leadership role in the process. He's challenging himself and his teammates to step up and respond to the hurdles placed in front of them with actions that prove they've learned from past mistakes.
There are early signs of progress in that regard, as Cleveland is 4-3 despite losing Ty Jerome to free agency and Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland, Sam Merrill, and Max Strus to varying degrees of injuries.
Perhaps the current team isn't going to win 64 games in 2025-26, but acknowledging the need to be tougher mentally should help them go further in the playoffs. The Eastern Conference is waiting to be conquered and Cleveland, for all of its shortcomings, has more experience than most of its competitors.
One can only hope that the mental toughness they lacked during the 2025 NBA Playoffs will become a strength they develop over the course of the 2025-26 regular season.