Following a 64-18 run but a disappointing second-round playoff upset, one of the Cleveland Cavaliers' three 2024-25 All-Stars in particular faces major expectations ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season.
The last two teams to emerge out of the Eastern Conference and make the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers, will be without their best players for most or all of the year, as All-NBA power forward Jayson Tatum and All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton both rehab Achilles tendon tears suffered during last season's playoffs.
Cleveland and the New York Knicks are the two teams with the most health, talent and depth to step into the void left by those squads. The Knicks have made a few free agent additions to shore up their bench, while Cleveland saw reserve guard Ty Jerome depart in free agency and ultimately replaced him by trading for 3-and-D point guard Lonzo Ball.
The Cavaliers' push for a Finals return
But at the end of the day, it will be up to the Cavaliers' "Big Four" of shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, power forward Evan Mobley, point guard Darius Garland, and center Jarrett Allen (all save Allen made the 2025 All-Star team) to return the club to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2018.
Specifically, Law Murray and Will Guillory of The Athletic both believe that Donovan Mitchell is the player in the league with the absolute most to prove heading into 2025-26.
Last year, Mitchell earned All-NBA First Team honors for the first time in his career. He was also an All-NBA Second Teamer in 2023. Mitchell is still hoping to advance to a conference finals for the first time in his career, Murray observes.
"Mitchell is squarely in his prime at 29 years old, but this might be the last time Cleveland has a team this special (and in a conference this thin) with Mitchell leading it," Murray writes.
Mobley, still just 24, also enjoyed a career-best season in 2024-25, being named to his first All-NBA squad and All-Star team and earning the Defensive Player of the Year award for his trouble. In the next year or two, he seems poised to overtake Mitchell as the face of the franchise.
"There are six players in NBA history who have played 60-plus playoff games and averaged at least 28 points per game in the postseason: LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Jerry West, Kevin Durant, Allen Iverson and Mitchell," Guillory notes.
"If Mitchell can, at the very least, get Cleveland back to the conference finals, he has a chance to cement himself among the top postseason performers in the history of the game. He’s done it his entire career. He just hasn’t been able to get past the second round (which Iverson did only once in his career, by the way)," Guillory adds. "Mitchell still doesn’t have his moment yet."
In 71 healthy games last season, the 6-foot-3 Kentucky product averaged 24.0 points on .443/.368/.823 shooting splits, 5.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals a night.