There is no shortage of confidence inside the Cleveland Cavaliers with regard to what they are capable of this season. The franchise has been talking about championships, clearly viewing themselves as contenders. Draymond Green disagrees.
The four-time NBA champion recently released a new episode of his podcast, The Draymond Green Show. The focus of this installment was the state of the NBA. That included a discussion around which teams are poised to be real championship contenders in 2025-26.
Green had five teams he believed could win the NBA title this season. The do-it-all forward was not under the impression that any of them would come from the Eastern Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and his Golden State Warriors received the vote of confidence.
Green said, "When I look at the East, right off the bat, I don't see any teams that can compete with the teams at the top of the West, at a championship level. I just, I don't foresee that."
Draymond paints a harsh picture of how much Cavaliers still need to prove
The Warriors star role player did reference the Cavaliers specifically too. Green mentioned without Darius Garland playing, Cleveland has not been able to cement themselves as a contender in his eyes.
Green thought there were no guarantees of contention just because the Cavaliers were good last year. Things did not always 'come back together' so seamlessly to him.
One of the biggest factors that made the Cavaliers so successful in 2024-25 was their offense. Cleveland had the best offensive rating in both the regular season (121.0) and NBA Playoffs (122.6) in their first year under Kenny Atkinson.
Green believed the scouting that is now available, after that initial run, on the offense will make it harder for the Cavaliers to replicate that exact same success. There was another reason why that attack stood to take a hit.
Losing Ty Jerome was brought up as a big blow for the Cavaliers. That point is certainly up for debate considering the shortcomings that were on display in the postseason, but the overall sentiment of Cleveland still needing to figure major components of their championship formula out was clear.
The Cavaliers won't be close to full strength for a while, not any sooner at December, when Max Strus is projected to return. Green's dismissal of the team is something Cleveland will hope looks like a 'prisoner of the moment' type of take once the 2025-26 season is really hitting its stride.