CLEVELAND — After a 64-win regular season and another early playoff loss, there’s one simple goal for this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers team.
What You Need To Know
The Cleveland Cavaliers enter the 2025-2026 NBA season as one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference
Donovan Mitchell says this year’s team has the right mindset to win a NBA title
Reigning NBA defensive player of the year Evan Mobley has aspirations of being an MVP candidate and raising his game to help Cleveland make a deep playoff run
Cleveland is trying to bring home an NBA championship exactly ten seasons after the Cavaliers ended a 54-year title drought in professional sports in the city by winning the 2016 NBA Finals.
“It’s just at a point now where it’s time to go get it,” Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell said.
Mitchell is coming off a season in which he earned first-team All-NBA honors for the first time in his career. Now in his fourth season with Cleveland, he has a championship on his mind.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re number one or number eight; we’ve got to handle our business,” said Mitchell. “We’ve run into the same wall three times in a row, so to speak and mentally you could stop and quit. So are we willing every day to continue to hit our heads against the wall, keep pounding and keep going? As we continue to make this push, I think we are, and I believe we are.”
Cavaliers Point Guard Darius Garland is the longest-tenured member of the team and said he’s taking it upon himself to step up his leadership this season.
“Keep everybody on the same cylinder, keep everybody above what they expect, keep everybody engaged, keep everybody locked in together,” Garland said. “I’m the leader of this group, so you’ve got to be the head of the snake.”
A big reason Cleveland is expected to be among the NBA’s top teams is the continued development of Evan Mobley. The reigning defensive player of the year thinks his game still has another level to hit.
“This year, I need to do the same thing and make another big leap,” said Mobley. “In the offseason, I just go hard and try to prepare myself for that big leap that I know I’m capable of. The biggest goal is a championship. That’s the ultimate goal, and I think this year we’re ready for that.”
Pairing new additions Lonzo Ball, Larry Nance Jr. and Thomas Bryant to the majority of last season’s roster has many picking the Cavaliers as Eastern Conference favorites. Center Jarrett Allen said this team is ready to handle the added pressure of expectations.
“I feel like we’re becoming more accustomed to that now. Last year we didn’t make the strides that we were supposed to, so we’ve just got to come back better,” said Allen.
The Cavaliers begin the regular season on October 22nd in New York against the Knicks. The home opener at Rocket Arena is set for October 26th against the Milwaukee Bucks.