For the third straight year, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season ended in the second round. Questions about next season remain: Who will be on the roster? How much money are they willing to spend over the cap? How can this team climb the mountain?

Before you answer any question, you need to look at the collective bargaining agreement before you get mad at the Cavs for not making any moves this offseason.

If Kobe Altman could pull off a move for Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, he should get his own hotel in Las Vegas to perform magic. Fans want action now, but I don’t see a path for a major move.

Look at the restrictions on the team because the Cavs will be a second-salary cap team. You earn this honor because they will have hit 134% of the salary cap. Making moves will be tough without trading one of the core four players in Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen.

On May 19, Altman, president of basketball operations, said, “We go as Evan Mobley goes.”

I’m good with that.

Mobley and Mitchell are the only two players who should not be on the trading block.

Let’s return to the restrictions of a second-apron team. The Cavs have set course to exceed the projected $207 million payroll figure to be a second-apron team in 2026. They are probably in the $230 million range.

It’s brutal. Teams can’t combine multiple player salaries in a single trade to facilitate a larger trade. They can’t send cash as part of a deal. They can’t use trade exceptions. They can’t do sign-and-trades. First-round draft picks are frozen and cannot be traded. To make it worse, if you are a second-level team for three out of five years, your first-round pick automatically moves to the end of the round. Also, say goodbye to the mid-level exception for free agents. One last point: getting players who get waived during the regular season is also restricted.

Altman told the media the team was willing to become a second-apron team. Good luck with that.

The restrictions suggest that other general managers can meet face-to-face to close deals. Altman will have to make moves from a pay phone floating in the middle of the ocean.

The good news is that they are still a young team looking to improve on an impressive regular season. I thought Altman recognized all the issues the fans could see during the playoff series against Indiana.

Losing Game 2 on mental mistakes with 1.1 seconds to go changed everything. Yes, the Cavs played like damaged goods, out of gas, and leaned on an unsuccessful “hero ball” to try to knock out an experienced team hungry to return to the Eastern Conference finals.

Nobody expected a Knicks-Pacers Eastern Conference match. I’m rooting for the Pacers, which will make me feel better about the Cavs’ earlier than expected exit.

It is hard to think about all the good things that happened this season for the franchise. One key element is that they succeeded on the floor without LeBron James. It’s a step forward for a franchise whose culture is based on a player who has been in Los Angeles for the past eight seasons.

I hear the noise from fans about LeBron James 3.0, but I just can’t see it. Even at 40, almost 41 years old, James takes over an entire franchise. Success in a post-LBJ era seems critical at Cavs HQ. He would have to take a major pay cut to come back.

I’ll never say never. But if it happens, I’ll be calling in my columns from the pay phone next to Kobe in the Atlantic.

One last note: It is amazing how even when a person is gone, they are never really gone. Last weekend, I was at Mount Olive Cemetery in Solon. My father and brother are within a stone’s throw of each other. I’m sure the three would see it as the late CJN Sports Columnist Les Levine at shortstop, my brother at second and my dad at first base. I love the fact that Les still makes me laugh and smile. His family did him right by putting “Of all the shows, this was my most recent” on the back of his headstone.

But what golf and baseball fans have placed on his headstone reminds me of John D. Rockefeller’s resting place at Lake View Cemetery, where people put money on the grave. While Rockefeller was rich with cash, Levine was rich with loyal fans, friends, and family. I’m sure Les would have been happy with the money. But you can’t take that to heaven. His impact on all of us will forever be priceless.

If you have a suggestion for a column idea for Andy Baskin, send him an email at columnists@cjn.org. He can be heard on “Baskin & Phelps” weekdays on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland at audacy.com.