After posting the franchise's best regular season in 16 seasons, can the Cleveland Cavaliers continue their trend of dominance?
The Cleveland Cavaliers often get overlooked because of the market they play in.
For the most part, the NBA has become very much a glamour league, where all the hype shifts to over-the-top superstars or big city markets like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Miami. As beautiful as a city Cleveland is, unless LeBron James returns, it just won’t ever generate the buzz the aforementioned cities usually get.
And because of that, the Cavaliers fly under the radar, even though if you look at their roster, it’s among one of the best that the league has to offer.
Led by multi-time All Star Donovan Mitchell, and continuously improving Evan Mobley, the Cavs have been victors of more than 45 games in the past three seasons, with most recently registering 64 wins.
Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey recently wrote a piece that gave one bold prediction for every team in the league, and for Cleveland, it was simple.
Another 60 win season.
In franchise history, the Cavs have already recorded three 60 win seasons, two of those with LeBron at the helm. Prior to the Cavs drafting James, they weren’t exactly a beacon of excellence.
But owner Dan Gilbert has done a fine job restructuring the franchise after James left for a second time by hiring Koby Altman as General Manager.
So generating the kind of momentum resulting in 60 wins for another season in a league that has embraced parity more often than previous seasons, would be quite the accomplishment.
“Back-to-back years with 60 wins is no small feat in the NBA, but Cleveland has all of its most important players back for 2025-26. And the already weak Eastern Conference should be even softer without Tatum (for at least much of the campaign) and Tyrese Haliburton. Barring injury, the Cavs should push for first place and five dozen victories again.”
Mobley is also expected to take a step forward in his development on the offensive end, after already winning the Defensive Player of the Year in 2025.
The jury is still out on what will happen with All Star guard Darius Garland, who’s been repeatedly been in trade discussions, but he will at least begin his seventh season as a Cavalier.
Another 60 win season is definitely in the realm of possibilities for Cleveland. As mentioned, with expected drop offs from both the Celtics and the Pacers, the Cavs can definitely hold one of the best records in the league again. The question is, will they get further than the second round this time?