The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the 2025 NBA Playoffs with many expecting nothing less than an NBA Finals appearance for the best regular-season team in the Eastern Conference. But the promise of a deep playoff run for the Cavs simply did not materialize. In the second round, Donovan Mitchell and company struck out of the postseason, as they floundered against the Indiana Pacers.
While it’s already vacation for Cleveland players, the work is never over for the team’s front office. Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman and his office could look to make some big moves in the offseason, with the aim of building as strong a roster for the Cavs, who won 64 games in the 2024-25 NBA campaign.
However, Altman didn’t seem interested in the idea of making major trades in the offseason.
“We’re not gonna go anywhere,” Altman said during a meeting with the media on Monday (h/t Sam Amico of Hoops Wire). We’re gonna keep fighting for that championship. The window is wide open we believe. … I love our foundation, I love our core.”
Altman also hinted that the Cavs are willing to go beyond the first apron and into the second apron for that matter if they felt the need for it.
“Yes, if we need to go there. … We like where we are from a roster standpoint,” Altman said, while also noting that “there’s a level of mental toughness we need to get to.”
The Cavs, who have the core four of Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, still look like a very capable team that should be able to compete for an NBA title again in the eyes of Altman.
“We have to go through these experiences, as tough as they are,” added the Cavs executive.
While acknowledging how the Cavs have become an elite regular-season team again, Altman highlighted where Cleveland needs to really prove itself.
“We’ve become very good at regular season. Next step is we need to figure out how to win at highest level. This is where we want to live — expectation of a championship. “Don’t want to live where we were 3-4 years ago, where it’s about ping-pong balls.”
Perhaps one of the biggest decisions that Altman and the Cavaliers will have to make in the offseason is on the future of Ty Jerome on the team. The former Virginia Cavaliers star, who just had a breakout campaign, will be a free agent in the summer after earning just $2.56 million in salary in the 2024-25 season.
In any case, the bar has been set even higher by the Cavs following their 64-win season in just the first year of Kenny Atkinson as the team’s head coach.
