Cleveland won 52 games last season. They beat a top-seeded Detroit team in seven games. They made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in years. And then the Knicks swept them.
That’s the strange part about evaluating this Cavaliers team heading into 2026-27. By almost every measure, last season was a success. But it ended the same way plenty of promising Cleveland seasons have ended before: watching someone else celebrate. So what actually needs to change?
The Core Is Staying Put
Let’s start with the good news. Cavs president Koby Altman made it clear at his end-of-season press conference: the “core four” isn’t going anywhere. That means Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Darius Garland are all still Cavaliers. Head coach Kenny Atkinson is staying too.
Mitchell already signed a four-year, $272.7 million extension. He’s said repeatedly that he likes it in Cleveland. Last season he averaged 27.9 points, 5.7 assists, and 1.5 steals a game. He’s still the team’s clear best player. Altman didn’t hesitate when asked about him: “Donovan is our guy.”
Harden is the bigger question mark, technically. He declined his $42.3 million player option. Most people view that as a business decision, not a sign he’s leaving. He’s reportedly holding off on a new deal to give Cleveland more room to maneuver this summer. That flexibility matters — as covered in our breakdown of whether LeBron James to the Cavs actually makes sense, it could open the door to chasing a certain future Hall of Famer from Akron.
What Went Wrong Against New York
Here’s the uncomfortable part. Cleveland didn’t lose to the Knicks because they lacked talent. They lost because New York exposed specific, fixable problems — and “fixable” doesn’t always mean “fixed by next season.”
The backcourt, for one, leaned small. Cleveland traded Isaac Okoro for Lonzo Ball last offseason specifically to add size and playmaking. That move helped during the regular season. But playoff-level defense against a team like New York punished Cleveland’s perimeter rotations in ways the regular season didn’t. Mobley, for all his defensive versatility, couldn’t be everywhere at once.
Depth was the other issue. Cleveland re-signed Sam Merrill over Ty Jerome last summer. That choice saved money, but it also cost them a Sixth Man of the Year-caliber scorer off the bench. Jerome signed with Memphis instead. That gap showed up in exactly the moments Cleveland needed a reliable second unit to hold steady.
The Offseason Plan So Far
Owner Dan Gilbert didn’t sugarcoat it after the season ended. “We took a step ahead this spring, but we are nowhere near where we need to be,” he said. That’s not the language of a franchise planning to stand pat.
So far, the moves have been modest. Cleveland added Tyrese Proctor and Saliou Niang late in the draft. They’re also bringing a Summer League roster to Las Vegas, with assistant coach Andrew Olson leading the group. Second-round pick Meleek Thomas is the headline addition there. None of that moves the needle much on its own.
The real story is what happens with the money. Cleveland is currently projected to be well over the luxury tax’s second apron. That severely limits what they can do in free agency. Locking in Harden’s next contract is the first domino. Everything else — including any pursuit of LeBron — depends on how that number shakes out.
So, Realistically — Can They Get Past New York?
The honest answer: it depends less on any single addition. It depends more on whether Cleveland can fix the two specific things that beat them. More perimeter defense. More reliable bench scoring. Those are precise problems. Adding one big name doesn’t automatically solve precise problems, no matter how legendary that name is.
Say the Harden situation resolves favorably, and Cleveland adds a low-cost veteran like LeBron. That helps — mostly as an offense boost and a locker-room presence. It’s not the fix for what actually went wrong in May, though. The bigger swing factor is probably internal. Can Mobley finally take the leap people have expected from him for two years now? Can Cleveland find bench scoring to replace what Jerome took to Memphis?
New York isn’t going anywhere either. They’re the team to beat in the East right now. Cleveland’s margin for error is thin. A repeat trip to the Conference Finals wouldn’t be a disappointment on paper. But anyone in Cleveland who’s watched this core come agonizingly close before knows something important: a respectable playoff run and actually winning it are two very different outcomes.
Bottom Line
This isn’t a team that needs to be blown up. It needs sharper edges — a better bench, tighter perimeter defense, and maybe some playoff toughness that only comes after a tough sweep. Whether that’s enough to get past the Knicks won’t be clear until next spring. But the pieces to compete are already in the building. The rest comes down to execution.
Sources: Hoops Rumors, Yahoo Sports, Spotrac.
