The Cavaliers entered last offseason in a relatively difficult position considering they had won an East-best 64 games in 2024/25 and entered the playoffs as the top seed in the conference. After quickly dispatching the Heat in a lopsided four-game sweep, the Cavaliers looked overmatched in round two against the Pacers, the eventual Eastern Conference (and nearly NBA) champions.
Still, going 64-18 isn’t easy, and owner Dan Gilbert has shown a willingness to spend when he believes the team is capable of contending. Despite projecting to be well over the second tax apron, the Cavaliers made some moves around the edges last summer rather a significant salary shake-up involving their “core four” of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
The Cavaliers added Tyrese Proctor and Saliou Niang late in last year’s draft, prioritized re-signing Sam Merrill (four years for $38MM) over Ty Jerome, who signed a three-year, $27MM contract with Memphis, and traded former No. 5 overall pick Isaac Okoro for Lonzo Ball in an effort to add size and play-making to their diminutive backcourt.
Garland, who underwent surgery on his toe after injuring the digit in the 2025 playoffs, didn’t make his season debut until early November. He aggravated his toe ailment in his third game back and seemed bothered by it off and on until around mid-December, when he hit his stride before suffering a similar injury to his other big toe. That left toe sprain caused him to be sidelined heading into the February deadline.
The Cavs pulled the plug on the Garland/Mitchell pairing that month, when they traded Garland to the Clippers for James Harden. They also dumped Ball’s salary to Utah after he struggled mightily in Cleveland and dealt De’Andre Hunter to Sacramento in a three-team deal which brought back Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder.
Those transactions didn’t move Cleveland beneath the second apron, but they did save the Cavaliers a ton of money in 2025/26 and put the team in much better position to dip below the restrictive threshold in ’26/27. The moves also helped the team salvage what had been a rocky start for the Cavs, who had the largest payroll in the league.
Cleveland’s regular season results in 2025/26 were inconsistent after a dominant ’24/25. The Cavs had already lost more games (19) by the halfway point of ’25/26 than they did all of ’24/25, but they closed the season on a high note, going 30-11 in the second half to finish with a 52-30 record and earn the No. 4 seed in the East.
A tough seven-game first-round series vs. Toronto was followed by another seven-game battle against the Pistons, who entered the playoffs as the East’s top seed but weren’t widely viewed as contenders due to their lack of shooting and play-making around Cade Cunningham. The Cavaliers emerged victorious, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals against New York.
The Cavs looked great for the first 40 minutes of Game 1 against the Knicks, building a 22-point lead they somehow managed to blow in under eight minutes. They fell apart in overtime, where they were outscored by 11 points, and wound up being swept by the Knicks, who went on to win their first title in 53 years.
The Cavaliers’ Offseason Plans
The Cavaliers were quick to point out after they were eliminated from the postseason that making the Eastern Conference finals was another incremental step toward their goal of winning a championship — it was the best finish a Cavs team without LeBron James had since 1992. But it was extremely difficult for Cleveland to reach that point, and the club still feels far away from being a true contender. Mitchell will be extension-eligible in a few weeks and the Cavs have several potential free agents — most notably Harden — in what figures to be a busy summer in Cleveland.
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