The Cleveland Cavaliers ended 2024 with a bang.
In the midst of a Western Conference road trip, the Cavaliers remained undefeated against the West and took down the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, winning both games by double-digits and extending their winning streak.
It was the latest positive step for a team that seems to only be making them, as they finish December still in first place in the entire league. Zooming out even further, however, 2024 was not all roses for the Cavaliers, who struggled with injuries to start the year and lost in the Second Round of the NBA Playoffs this past spring.
How did the team do for the entirety of 2024? Now that the ball has dropped and the full 366 days are in the books, lets look at how the team performed and who led the team in various categories for 2024.
How did the Cleveland Cavaliers do in 2024?
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the correct answer to which team has had the most wins to start the 2024-25 season, but what if we zoom out to all of 2024? Do the Cavaliers keep the lead?
The answer is no, but they are close. The Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder, the two No. 1 seeds from last season, finished 2024 with 62 wins in 83 games. The Cavaliers were just a step behind, with a strong second-half of the 2023-24 season coinciding with their unstoppable march this season. The Cavs racked up 59 wins in their 83 games, ranking third for the year.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Washington Wizards won just 14 games in 80 games last year.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers in points in 2024
The leader for this category is hardly surprising, but Donovan Mitchell was easily the top scorer for the Cavaliers in 2024 despite playing in just 69 of a possible 83 games. He scored 1,576 points for the year, averaging 24.6 per game. His role has changed this season as more Cavs players get involved in the offense, but he is clearly still the top scoring threat on the team and the potential for an explosion lurks at all times.
For the entire NBA, the leading scorer for 2024 was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder guard scored a whopping 2,318 points in 2024, averaging 30.1 per game and appearing in 77 games. Mitchell ranked 23rd among all NBA players.
Jarrett Allen led the Cavaliers in rebounds in 2024
Jarrett Allen took this category in a landslide. He not only played a whopping 83 games in 2024, along with Georges Niang appearing in every single game, but he led the team easily in rebounds per game: 10.8 vs Evan Mobley's second-place 8.7.
Add that up, and it means 894 rebounds for Allen to lead the team, 375 ahead of Mobley. In fact, you can add 3rd place to Mobley's total (Georges Niang's 299) and you still fall short of Allen's total. The afro-topped center not only led the Cavaliers, he ranked fifth in the entire NBA in total rebounds in 2024, behind Domantas Sabonis, Rudy Gobert, Nikola Jokic and Anthony Davis.
Jarrett Allen also took the blocks crown
The contest for who would have the most blocks for the Cavaliers in 2024 went down to the wire; as of December 30th, both Allen and Evan Mobley were separated by a single block. Then the Cavs played their year-ending back-to-back, and Allen pulled ahead to take this crown as well.
Allen did have 83 games in the year to Mobley's 60, so the younger big certainly had the better per-game average, and Mobley is one of the very best rim protectors in the entire NBA. For this year, at least, Allen had his number in rejections.
Donovan Mitchell was the plus-minus leader
Zooming out from individual statistics, which player on the Cleveland Cavaliers had the best plus-minus for 2024? Who drove the Cavs to win their minutes the most?
That player was again Donovan Mitchell, who led the Cavaliers with a +517 plus-minus. That was far-and-away the best mark on the team, driven in large part by a dominant 2023-24 season.
Interestingly enough, second-place on the team was Sixth Man Caris LeVert with a +429 mark for the year in his 71 games. Jarrett Allen and then Dean Wade followed him. At the other end of the spectrum, Damian Jones had the worst plus-minus of any Cavs player, with a -65 mark in his 26 games.
Shai-Gilgeous Alexander was not only the NBA's leading scorer in 2024, but he also led the entire league in plus-minus at +699, ahead of Jalen Brunson, Nikola Jokic and Jayson Tatum. Flip the list, and Scoot Henderson led the league in negative plus-minus at a mind-boggling -580 for the year, barely beating out (losing to?) Miles Bridges at -574 and Bilal Coulibaly at -567.
The Cleveland Cavaliers had an impressive 2024, and now face a new year with a singular challenge: to win a championship. Who will stand out for the team as they pursue that goal?