Kenny Atkinson Says Evan Mobley Has 'Chip on His Shoulder' Entering 2026-27

Evan Mobley enters his sixth season with a chip on his shoulder, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said Friday at the team's start-of-season press conference.

Two seasons ago, Mobley became the first player in Cavaliers history to win Defensive Player of the Year. He received 35 first-place votes and finished ahead of Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks.

That same season, Mobley made his first All-Star team and earned second-team All-NBA honors. When the award was announced, he told Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor that winning it had been a goal of his coming into the year.

None of those honors came in 2025-26. Mobley averaged 18.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 65 games, down from 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds the season before.

Through 18 playoff games, he averaged 17.0 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. Cleveland needed seven games to get past the Toronto Raptors and seven more against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. The New York Knicks then swept the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Mobley turned 25 in June, and Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman said the team is going to keep asking more of him.

"He deserves that respect," Altman said. "You get to a conference finals at his age, and at that point [you] could argue he was our best player in the playoffs. We don't win two game sevens without him on the road, being a number one seed. All those things go into his resume and portfolio, and they speak to who he is."

"All we've done is win since he's been here," Altman continued. "The last five years, we have the third-best record of all NBA teams, and we want to continue that. We're hungry for more. His work, who he is as a person, affords him that, especially from us, and where he's going. He's 25 years old. He continues to add to his game, but we're going to continue to ask more of him. We want more, and he knows that. But in terms of a quieter offseason, he should be afforded that in terms of the noise because of what he's accomplished."

The Defensive Player of the Year award and the All-Star selection are the honors Mobley wants back, Atkinson said.

"You hit it perfectly," Atkinson said. "I always quote Koby, right? He just wins. He knows how to win. I know that people want players to fit in this lane or whatever. I think we're about winning as an organization, and that's what he's done since he's stepped into this league."

"I will say this, just having a lot of conversations with Evan this summer and being around him a lot, I think he does have a chip on his shoulder," Atkinson added. "The year before he was Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Star. There are individual goals, and I feel even more of an edge this summer, like wanting to get back to that. That's a great thing for us. I feel another level of focus. Not that he wasn't focused last offseason, but individual accolades mean something. They mean something. So I'm excited about that. I think you'll see him make another step."

"But I agree with Koby," Atkinson noted. "Round one, round two, he's arguably our best player. And in the conference finals, it's like, man, we all have to do better. He knows he's got to do better. There's another level for him at 25 years old."

"I think his trajectory is what it should be," Atkinson detailed. "Everybody wants that leap. It doesn't happen like that. Sometimes you hit a plateau and sometimes you might go and then you have to go up again. So I feel like he's going to take a leap this year."

Cleveland selected Mobley third overall in the 2021 draft out of USC.

In July 2024, Mobley agreed to a five-year, $224 million maximum rookie-scale extension that took effect last season. Winning Defensive Player of the Year triggered Rose Rule language in the deal, allowing it to start at up to 30% of the salary cap, ESPN's Bobby Marks noted at the time. Mobley made $46,394,100 in 2025-26, according to Basketball-Reference.

In his award season, Mobley averaged 1.6 blocks and 0.9 steals. He ranked fifth in the league in blocks and contested shots that year, according to Fedor.

Atkinson said Friday the starting lineup is not set, with Peyton Watson and Mario Hezonja new to the roster.

Mobley added bulk this summer, most of it in his legs. Altman said his concern is whether Mobley can keep that weight on through the end of the season given the minutes Cleveland asks of him.

"He always comes into the season stronger," Altman explained. "I'm more concerned about Evan at the end of the season because we play him so many minutes and ask him to do so much. Yes, he added some bulk and looks stronger, especially in the legs, because we want him to punish switches and continue to punish the rim. The challenge is how we keep that on across the season and balance the amount of minutes we ask him to play."

"We're asking him to rebound, hit, sprint all the way to the rim, seal his guy, and then pop out," Altman continued. "We're asking him to switch guards on the defensive end, get back, get a rebound, and contest threes, probably one of the highest contest rates in the league at 6-foot-11. We're asking him to do all these things, play all these games and minutes, and keep his weight on. That's the challenge. He had a great offseason in that regard."

Mobley appeared in 65 of Cleveland's 82 regular-season games. The Cavaliers cycled through 41 starting lineups over that stretch.

Mobley and the rest of the 21-player training camp roster hold media day Monday before flying to Spain. Practice begins Sept. 30 in Fuengirola.

The Cavaliers open the preseason Oct. 8 against the Boston Celtics.