Mario Hezonja Sends Bold Message to Cavaliers About His Defensive Role

Mario Hezonja went 0-of-3 from the field in the first half Monday night. After halftime, he scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who rallied from 14 points down before losing 117-112 to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Rocket Arena.

Hezonja finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals in 26 minutes off the bench. He made 3 of 7 3-point attempts, including 3 of 5 after the break. His 8 rebounds led Cleveland.

In the first half, Hezonja had 5 rebounds and 2 steals. The second steal came against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 1.1 seconds left before halftime.

Nine of his points came in the third quarter. A 27-foot 3-pointer from Tyrese Proctor's pass with 4:05 left cut Oklahoma City's lead to 79-76, and his driving layup at 3:12 made it 79-78. He hit another 3-pointer from Donovan Mitchell with 55.9 seconds left in the quarter.

Part of Hezonja's night was spent on Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a season-high 43 points on 14-of-35 shooting.

With Peyton Watson out, Hezonja said his approach was the same as it has been since the first day of training camp: be ready.

"It's extremely important for us," Hezonja said. "I know that probably everybody knows me for scoring, but now it's time to show other things as well, especially on defensively. I'm very curious about how the defense is going to look for me at the end of the season, where it's going to rank me. That's a personal challenge, so it's a personal goal."

"I can tell Mike G and Kenny, just let me guard the best, and it will help us because we can get into more switching, we can make them work, we can make them [waste] some more energy and make it harder for them," Hezonja continued. "Obviously those guys are huge volume guys, so no matter what you do, we can speak now here about the guy [with] 43. So these are the volume people in the NBA that no matter what you do, they still get to their numbers. But more and more that you can affect them and waste their energy, and that they miss a couple important shots and important possessions, is a win for us."

Cleveland wanted a bigger body on Gilgeous-Alexander to body him on mid-range shots, Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.

"Some good moments, and some moments where Shai's shifty and got by us," Atkinson said. "But I'm glad we tried it, and I'm glad we looked at it. That's been one of the good things about Mario, right? That's a big adjustment, NBA defense. You've been playing, and he's been good. So we wanted a bigger body on Shai just to be able to body him on those mid-range. There's some good stuff. He got by Mario a few times, which he does with everybody."

Cleveland signed Hezonja to a one-year contract on July 31. He had spent the previous four seasons at Real Madrid, where he won the 2023 EuroLeague title and was named MVP of Spain's Liga ACB for 2025-26.

Orlando took him fifth overall in the 2015 NBA Draft. Before this season, his last NBA action came in 2020, and his years away included stops with Panathinaikos in Greece and UNICS Kazan in Russia. Panathinaikos signed him in February 2021, and he won the Greek league title that season. The Cavaliers had pursued him for about 18 months, Hezonja said at media day.

Cleveland played much more in the flow after halftime, in Hezonja's view, once the early confusion from facing a brand-new Thunder lineup wore off.

"It is new, but it's something that was with me all the time, playing in both directions, and then individually just wanting to excel at everything that I do," Hezonja explained. "So it is a mega sacrifice, it's a totally different story. Going from being a volume guy there and being number one to here, you see I finished the first half with zero, but I don't care about it, because my points for me, that's what I do, so that comes to me as a product of having great teammates around me."

"So I have to give them something, which is now rebounding, which is defense, which is passing, playing, moving the ball, being smart about it, knowing when to stop when we are rushing a couple possessions," Hezonja continued. "So just overall, just quality basketball."

In Saturday's 136-111 win in Milwaukee, Hezonja had 8 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Hezonja checked out with 5:47 left and Cleveland trailing 103-102. He did not return.

Atkinson called Hezonja's skill level really high, saying he can shoot, pass, and dribble.

"Yes. We went back and forth," Atkinson explained. "You guys can definitely second guess me on that one. I get it. I feel it. It was really a 50-50 proposition."

Cleveland finished with Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley, and Sam Merrill on the floor, with Jarrett Allen playing until Meleek Thomas replaced him at 3:43. Oklahoma City outscored the Cavaliers 14-10 over the final 5:47.

Cleveland visits Oklahoma City on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.