What Does the FUTURE of the Cleveland Cavaliers Look Like? | BIG Roster Decisions Soon?

What Does the FUTURE of the Cleveland Cavaliers Look Like? | BIG Roster Decisions Soon?

On today’s show, we know what the Cavs are going to look like this upcoming season, but what about two years from now? What about three? What does the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers beyond this season hold for the Wine and Gold? We’ll talk about that on today’s edition of Locked on Cavs. You are Locked On Cavs, your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. What’s up everybody? My name is Danny Cunningham and you might know me from my time covering the Cleveland Cavaliers. Places like my Substack, Inside Shot, Cleveland Magazine, 923 The Fan, and a number of other stops along the way. Want to say thank you to you for making Lock on Cavs your first listen today and every day you can find the show anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else. Make sure to drop us a fivestar rating, leave us a nice review, and of course, be a friend. Tell a friend about Locked on Calves. Make sure you’re subscribed. Make sure a friend is subscribed as well. And if you’re watching the show on YouTube, do us a favor. Hit that thumbs up button for us. Click subscribe and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss the latest lockdown on Cavs content. A proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today, I want to talk about what the Cavs are going to look like in the future and what they need to do in order to build a sustainable winner. Now, we know pretty much what the Cavs are going to look like in the 2025 2026 NBA season. They’ve got 13 guys under contract. At some point, they’ll sign a 14th. I would expect they go into the season with 14 guys on the roster, but this is a team that is going to be built around Evan Moley and Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland and Jared Allen and Max Duce and DeAndre Hunter and so on and so forth. We don’t have a lot of questions about what they’re going to look like. We might have questions about how they perform in the postseason, but that’s a different conversation for a different day. So, what I wanted to talk about on today’s show is, well, what happens after this year? regardless of the outcome. Say they win the title, say they don’t win the title, I don’t know. I can’t tell the future. But I do want to try and look into my crystal ball a little bit and try and envision what the Cavs look like beyond this season because I don’t think that living in the second apron is sustainable forever. I think it’s probably a two-year thing. Maybe it’s only a one-year thing depending on the outcome of this season. But I do think there is going to have to be a future around Evan Mobley that doesn’t necessarily exist on the roster right now. And I think that is an interesting fun summer conversation to have. So one of the questions that I got on social media this week from somebody and I don’t remember who it was or I would give it credit, but they asked if the Cavs were preparing for a Donovan Mitchell Evan Mobley future. And I do think that is an interesting way to think about things because it is very clear Evan Mobley is the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now whether or not he becomes a top 10 player in basketball this season I think is going to say a lot about whether or not the Cavs win the title this year or reach the finals this year. I think that those are, you know, those are goals that are in sight, of course. And if Evan really just continues to develop and takes a step forward this season that was very similar to the step forward that he took last season, then I do think that we will be looking at the Cavs as a finals team at the very least, if not a champion. But at a certain point, the Cavs are going to have to reimagine the roster around Evan Mobley in a way that maybe nobody else on this roster is still here. When that happens, I do find it interesting to think, well, what how long does the Evan Mobley Donovan Mitchell core, and even you can add Darius Garland in that, but I think he’s probably just a little bit of a separate conversation. How long does this core stay together? And what does this team look like five years from now? What does his team look like three years from now? I think those are very interesting questions to ask. And I think that it is fair as of right now considering how good Evan is, how good Donovan Mitchell is, and of course things happen and we cannot tell the future. I want to just very much emphasize that this entire episode is all speculation. There is no reporting in this episode. This is all speculation about what the Cavs could look like a couple of years from now. And of course, this is all speculation because nobody knows the answer to this. Like I would bet that Kobe Alman might have an idea of future moves that he’s going to make, but he doesn’t know what the Cavs are going to look like two or three years from now. Nobody does. So this is I just again want to caution you. This is all speculation in this episode. This is not reporting. So I do think that there’s a world where a couple of years from now we are looking at an Evan Moley and Donovan Mitchell like you know superstar duo is probably the way to term it. I think there’s also a world a couple of years ago where we are looking at an Evan Moy Darius Garland superstar duo. I’m not so sure that both those guards are going to be on the roster together three years from now. And that does really get into an interesting thought exercise about okay well let’s take a look at the Cavs current roster right pull up their as you listen to this pull up their spo track page and you can see what everybody’s contract is you can see you know Evan Mobley pretty big extension that kicks in this year Donovan Mitchell has this year and then a player option Jared Allen he has a contract extension that kicks in next year Darius Garland making a good amount of money. You know, Dean Wade going to be a free agent after this year. I think a an interesting thought exercise is well, how many guys that are currently on the Cavs roster finish their current contract in Cleveland? I think that there are a few layups. If you look at obviously Dean Wade, maybe they trade him, maybe they don’t, but he expires at the end of this season. So, I think it’s probably fair to say, well, you know, Dean Wade probably meets that criteria. He probably and you know, maybe he gets traded this year, maybe he doesn’t. I don’t know. I would know at this point. But, does he finish this deal, his deal in I think going up and down the roster, it’s it’s very interesting. Look at Evan Mobley. I think that he is the one guy you look at and say yes. that contract that he signed which is the the very very you know the 30% of the cap max where it’s going to get up there and it’s going to go through the 20 basically until 2030 kind of you know in lock step with Kobe Alman and the rest of the front office. That is something I would expect Evan Mobley to finish his contract with the Cavs. Donovan Mitchell has this upcoming season, next season and then a player option. Does he finish that contract with the Cavs? I would like to think he does. I don’t see why Donovan Mitchell would not finish this contract with the Cavs and I would not be surprised truthfully con considering the direction this franchise is going and there’s been no noise around this but I would not be surprised at all if Donovan Mitchell signs a contract extension in Cleveland. I think that when when he was acquired via trade a few years ago, everyone wanted to say, “Well, he’s just going to, you know, find his way to New York.” And maybe one day he does play for New York. But the more and more I think about this, the more and more I look at this, I wouldn’t be surprised, and of course, these things, you know, you never know what the end of a guy’s career is like. But I would at this point, I think, be more surprised than not if Donovan Mitchell didn’t play the rest of his prime in Cleveland. Now, I don’t know that he’s going to play his entire career in Cleveland, just again because it is impossible to predict what the end of a career looks like for somebody, especially a player as good as Donovan Mitchell. He is uh going to be 29 years old, but I do think that the rest of his prime years are going to be in Cleveland, and I would not be stunned if he signs another contract extension with the Cavs. That would not be a surprising thing to me whatsoever. Then you look at Darius Garland’s contract and I think this is the first one that is a question because I don’t think Evan Mobley finishing his contract in Cleveland’s a question and I don’t think Donovan Mitchell finishing his contract in Cleveland is a question. But Darius Garland has this year at $39 million, next year at $42 million and the year after that at $44 million. There are no options in his deal. It is all fully guaranteed. He’s making just over 25% of the cap this year and then 24% of the cap in 26 and in or I guess in 27 and in 28. I could see Darius Garland not finishing this current contract in Cleveland. If Garland is traded, I don’t think that would be the biggest surprise. I’m not saying I expect it, but he’s the first guy look and say, you know what, I could see the last year of that deal. And Garland is extension eligible this summer. don’t know that there’s going to be any talk of a contract extension. I’ve not necessarily asked around about that, but I’ve not heard anything about it either. But could he finish? Could he be traded next summer? Could he be traded two summers from now? I think considering where the Cavs are at financially where they are going to be a second apron team for sure this season. There is no doubt about that. They will be a second apron team this season. With that, they can’t be a second apron team forever. They can probably be a second apron team next season, but after that, I think you’re probably going to see the Cavs make some costs savings moves to get out of the second apron a couple of off seasons from now. Darius Garland, I do think could be one of those moves. I think that if Darius Garland is traded on this contract, that is something that should not come as a surprise to anybody. Not because Darius Garland is not a good player, but because if you look at the way that teams are built, if you look at the moves that teams do need to make in order to stay financially stable, and really I think even more than financially because I don’t think that the Cavs are scared to pay the tax. I don’t think the Cavs are scared to pay the financial penalties that come along with being a championship caliber team, with being a very expensive team. and they are going to this year be the most expensive team in basketball. They’re not scared of that. But it’s the other restrictions that makes life really difficult for them. When you think about not being able to aggregate players in the trade, having your draft pick frozen, not being able to trade picks seven years out, that becomes the biggest issue. And I do think at a certain point you’re going to see the Cavs make moves very similar to what the Boston Celtics made this summer where they had to trade Drew Holidayiday where they had to trade Kstap’s Porzingis in financial saving moves so that they could feel as if they can be a little bit sustainable. And I know that you can instantly come back and say, well, they did those things because of Jason Tatum’s injury and maybe part of it. I don’t know that they would have torn down the same way had Tatum not torn his Achilles, but they were going to make financial moves all along. It has been the the worstkept secret in NBA circles from truthfully probably January on that Drew Holiday was going to get traded by the Boston Celtics this summer. It was something when I went to Boston for the Cavs Celtics game on the final day of February. I believe it was February 28th they played. That was the Cavs crazy comeback they had. I left that building knowing, okay, Drew Holidayiday is going to play this the rest of this season in Boston and then he’s getting traded in the summer. Like that is one of the obviously not a takeaway from that game, but there was very little I had no reason to doubt that he was or I had no reason to believe, excuse me, that he was going to be on the Celtics beyond that year. The Cavs at a certain point are going to have to do something like that. Maybe it’s not as extreme as Darius Garland. I don’t know. And we are too going to have to see exactly where the cap is at when that time arrives. Maybe it’s not as extreme as Darius Garland, but the Cavs are going to have to make a certain move like that. Okay, so aside from Garland, aside from Mitchell, aside from Mobley, who else can finish their contract in Cleveland, we’ll go through the rest of the roster. Plus, I will tell you why the Cavs really couldn’t make one of the big trades this summer. We’ll dive into that next right here on Locked on Cavs. Today’s show is brought to you by 5Hour Energy. It’s time to fuel up and turn it up with 5hour energy transfusion. It brings back the bold grape, ginger, and lime flavor of your favorite golf drink. Certainly one of my favorite golf drinks, minus the alcohol. Turns it into a quick energizing shot. Whether you’re sinking birdies like I was the other day or making memories with friends, this one’s a hole-in-one for your energy game. Let’s be honest, some days on the course or even off of the course, you just need that little extra boost to stay sharp and energized. 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Make sure a friend is subscribed as well. So, we are looking at the Cavs contracts and I think that Jared Allen is the next most interesting one. I think that of the the core four, if you want to call it that. Again, if you listen to the show, you know that I’m I’m out on the core four is a thing. I think Jared Allen’s a very nice role player, but I don’t think he’s a core player. Jared Allen this year is on the final deal or the final year of that five-year $100 million contract that he signed shortly after the Cavs acquired him from the Brooklyn Nets in a trade. That deal at the time looked maybe a little bit big, but it in hindsight like it looked like an amazing deal because now Jared Allen making 12.9% of the cap this year. So, let’s just call it 13% of the cap this year for borderline all-star production from a center is a steal. Certainly in the regular season when he’s proven that he’s a very, very good player. So, that is obviously a great contract, but he, if you remember, signed that contract extension last year. He signed a three-year contract extension worth a little over $90 million. That deal means that next season, the 2026 2027 season, so not this fall, but one year from right now, Alen will go from making $20 million to $28 million. That is the biggest raise that he could have received from the Cavs without reaching free agency. If they would have waited until he played out this season, was a free agent, the Cavs could have signed him for more. He could have gotten more. I don’t know if the Cavs would have been willing to offer him any more money than what he’s going to be making, but he’s going to be making a significant more amount of money. And it’s for that reason, as I look at what the Boston Celtics did this summer with who they traded away, I look at Jared Allen and say, it’s really difficult for me to envision Jared Allen playing out all three years of that contract extension. Again, not this season. I Jared Allen is going to be in Cleveland this season. Would be very surprised if he is dealt. But that contract extension, I would be I think I would be more surprised if Jared Allen played out that entire contract extension in Cleveland than if he played out the entire contract extension elsewhere. I look at next summer, depending on, of course, depending on what happens next season, I could see Jared Allen being dealt next summer. Now, I have said this for the last three years, so maybe he’s just never going to be traded and will forever be on the Cavaliers. I don’t know what’s going to happen exactly, but I look at that contract and say when the Cavs are going to need to make a cost cutting move, I think Jared Allen is probably the first one that comes to mind. Partially because as I look at it, he’s not the best player at his own position on this roster. And it’s not to say he’s not good, because he’s very good, but he’s not Evan Mobley. And I don’t know that next season the Cavaliers can put $78 million worth of money towards the center and power forward position. And that’s before you think about what else they could have because they’re going to need more than just those two guys. But between those two guys, I don’t know if you can afford to pay those two $78 million. That is just a team building thing that I don’t know makes a lot of sense. even if the Cavs are not going to trade Jared Allen for nothing because of course you can’t trade him for nothing and this is part of what I want to get into in a minute. But Jared Allen making that amount of money just might not make sense in Cleveland. So I look at the future of of who’s going to finish out their current contract in Cleveland. I think Jared Allen is the prime candidate considering that there are four years left on his current deal including that ex that three-year extension. So he’s got four seasons before he’s a free agent. I find it very difficult to believe that Jared Allen is going to play four more seasons in Cleveland. And again, this almost has nothing to do with Jared the player. Just has everything to do with how much he makes and how long that contract is and where the Cavs are at in terms of their financial situations. There are a few guys that I think look at as relatively easy bets to finish in Cleveland. Um, and of course these guys too that I’m going to bring up right here are extension eligible right now. Um, but DeAndre Hunter, he has this year and next year. I would imagine he’ll be in Cleveland both of those um, seasons on his contract. However, he can sign an extension this summer. I’ve not heard anything about a potential extension for him. But I do think if he does not extend, I think that that contract is one that makes sense considering what he does that he plays um, a position that the Cavs don’t have great depth at, at least in terms of his exact skill set, more importantly, his size. being 6’8. Max Strus has this year at 15.9, has next year at $16 million, making 10% of the cap this year, 9% of the cap this year. I think that contract has matured into a very good team-friendly deal for what Max does bring. I think his next deal, um, depending on what he looks like a year from now, I would imagine he’s going to be making upwards of $20 million on that contract. So, I do think that that one has aged into a very, very good contract for the Cavaliers. But if he does not sign an extension this year, I don’t think that he’s somebody and maybe he could be an add-on in a trade, but I look at him as somebody that could finish that contract in Cleveland. I think that is something that could make sense. But the other thing that you do have to remember is sometimes you don’t want to lose guys for nothing. So, it is of course possible that somebody likes M, somebody like Max, if the Cavs don’t extend him, somebody like DeAndre, if the Cavs don’t extend him, those guys could be traded for something else that can help right now. If that something else is a little bit further away from free agency, think of the way that, and I hate to do this considering what this week has meant or what this week has been over there, but think of the way the Cleveland Guardians have operated where they don’t let guys get to free agency. they will trade them for something younger and cheaper because that is an organization that refuses to spend money which is the complete opposite of the Cavs. But the Cavs also have a salary cap to deal with where they cannot upgrade in certain ways where the Guardians just choose not to upgrade in certain ways. But that’s a different conversation for a different podcast entirely. But they don’t let guys get to free agency. And I could see a world in which the Cavs don’t extend DeAndre Hunter this summer or next. They don’t extend Max Truce this summer or next. So, they do trade them so as to not lose them for nothing in free agency. That wouldn’t be the worst team building exercise from Kobe Alman when you think about it. Lonzo Ball is another one. He’s not extension eligible this summer. He is, however, on a very team friendly deal. $10 million this year, $10 million next year for what is a team option, too. So the Cavs really could just say, well, you know, Lonzo didn’t couldn’t stay healthy this year. And we don’t know, of course, what this year is going to bring for him, but the Cavs can just get out of that for nothing next year. So I think that he might be the easiest layup as a guy other than Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, like the non-star category. I think he’s the easiest layup. Like, yeah, that guy is probably going to finish his contract in Cleveland. Dean Wade, I think, is in a very similar spot. Jaylen Tyson, I I’m not so sure. um we’ll have to like we have to know you really can’t answer that because you have to know what he looks like on the floor. I think the same thing can be said kind of for Craig Porter Jr. and of course Larry Nance Jr. is on a one-year deal. And this leads me to the one guy left and I’m not going to talk about Tyrese Proctor because we have no idea how much money he’s we have no idea if he’s an NBA player. Um but Sam Merrill is the one guy I’ve not mentioned. So, this summer, Sam signed a contract with the Cavs, a four-year deal worth um like 38 $39 million. So, he is making 8.4 this year, 9.1 next year, 9.8, and then it goes up above 10 for the final year of that deal. This is, and I think that the instant reaction to Sam’s contract was that’s a lot of money or certainly maybe more money than I thought Sam Earl would get. And I do think it’s a reminder of how valuable movement shooting is in the NBA. But I do think that this is also something you have to look at if and when the Cavs need to make a big deal or if and when the Cavs are out of the second apron and can aggregate salaries again in a trade. Sam has a deal that I think considering his skill set is a very tradable contract. And I don’t know if he’s going to finish this deal in Cleveland. I would bet probably not. But I do think that this is a contract that maybe the shock value of it was a little bit much. I look at it and say, “Yeah, that’s a deal that I look at and say that is one that the Cavs front office could trade a year from now and there would be a lot of takers for it. I think that one is going to look pretty good a couple of years from now.” Now, I mentioned earlier that the Cavs couldn’t make a big move this off season and I will tell you the real reason why they could not play in the Kevin Durant trade sweep stakes. That’s straight ahead right here on Locked on Cavs. Thank you again for making Lockdown Cavs your first listen today and every day. If you’re watching the show on YouTube, do us a favor. Hit that thumbs up button for us. Click subscribe and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss the latest lockdown on Cavs content. A proud part of the Lockdown podcast network. The Cavs were of course rumored to be in the Kevin Durant trade sweep stakes. They had some sort of dialogue with the Phoenix Suns. We don’t know how extensive said dialogue was, but ultimately Kevin Durant was never going to be traded to Cleveland. And Kevin Durant was never going to be traded to Cleveland for a number of different reasons. One, I don’t think Kevin Durant wanted to extend in Cleveland. Two, Kevin Durant does not fit the Cavs timeline. And I know that the timeline talk can be a little overrated right now because the Cavs are in championship or bust mode. But as I say all the things that I’ve said about what the Boston Celtics did this off seasonason and they are the franchise to watch because the the Cavs are going to go through what they went through. The only question is whether or not they’re going to have a championship ring to. So the Celtics had to trade away some of their pieces and they had to trade away some of their pieces to cut costs and of course try and find ways to rebuild in the future. Now the pieces they had to trade away in Chris Sporzingis who really can never stay on the floor and Drew Holiday who is in his mid to late 30s and I just don’t think is going to be the same player. I don’t think he was the same player this year are probably pretty different than the pieces that the Cavs are going to have to trade away if and when they make these trades. So I think that the biggest reason why and of course the second apron means you cannot aggregate salaries unless that move takes you out of the second apron. So the Cavs really for Kevin Durant and or LeBron James would have needed to trade upwards of $70 million in order to take back the 50 plus million in salary that those guys make this year. for the Cavs to do that. There wasn’t a way without trading Jared Allen or Darius Garland in some cases both of those guys plus then DeAndre Hunter or Max Truce. Like it would have taken a lot that would have been a trade in which the Cavs were not only sending out more money and talent in my opinion than they were bringing back in, they were also doing that to get much older. And the biggest problem there, like with Kevin Durant signing that contract extension with Houston. Is he going to finish his career with the Rockets? I have no idea. I bet he has no idea. LeBron James is on a one-year deal. Um, and the bigger question is, is he going to play more than one year? And what is he going to look like? Because he’s a man that is in his 40s, and what he is doing is unprecedented. But part of the reason it’s unprecedented is it’s really difficult to do. So, if LeBron James is not all NBA level good next year, would that surprise anybody? Maybe. But the only reason it would surprise you is because he’s LeBron James and he’s the greatest basketball player ever. Not because, oh, this guy’s going to be 42. Of course, he’s not one of the 15 best players in basketball. So, with that line of thinking, the Cavs are going to probably have to trade away some guys at some point. If they trade those guys away now and then get older by doing so, once you make that trade, once you trade for a Kevin Durant, for a LeBron James, that asset is depreciating every single day. So I think and and you know the meme of like the domino the the like the stick figure claimation guy pushing over a really small domino and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and going up. had that had the Cavs made that trade and maybe it would have resulted in a title this upcoming season. We have no way of knowing this, but that would have been the first domino of Evan Mobley asking out or the Cavs needing to trade Evan Mobley years from now because as I mentioned at the start of the show, at some point there will be a core of the Cavaliers that is built around Evan Mobley where Evan Mobley is no doubt the best player on this team. Like Evan Mobley right now is 24 I believe it is. I don’t know his exact birthday so I don’t know his exact age but Evan Mobley right now. Yes, just turned 24 last month. So at some point he’s going to be 27 or 28 and he’s probably going to be one of the five best players in basketball. I don’t think that’s like some absurd thing to say. if he’s going to be on the Cavs, the Cavs are going to look a lot different now. Now, maybe he is the type of guy that wants to spend one, you know, his only career on one team. I don’t know. I I don’t know how Evan feels about that. Um, for example, go look at Giannis right now with Milwaukee. But also look at Giannis right now with Milwaukee where Giannis built or the Bucks, excuse me, built an old team around Giannis. And once that team was done, they really couldn’t trade for good young pieces because nobody wanted their old pieces. They tapped out. And then the Bucks have been a disaster since. And they’re they have the best player in the Eastern Conference and one of the three best players in the entire world on the roster. And nobody thinks they have any chance to win a title next year because it takes more than one guy. Evan Mobley, I’m not saying he’s going to be honest. I’m not saying he’s going to be an MVP, but he’s going to be at some point, I think, we will look at him say that guy’s probably a top five player in the world. And if you want to have a competitive roster around him, trading Darius Garland or Jared Allen for LeBron James, I think would have nuked any chance of that. So that the real reason, sure, we can point to the restrictions the second apron have, we can point to all those things. The real reason the Cavs couldn’t make a trade like that this summer is because if they want to be good around Evan Mobley for a long long time that would have sapped their ability to do so and I think because of that you have to look at this summer and say yeah that wouldn’t have been the right move and it’s probably for the best that the Cavs didn’t make it but thank you for making this show the right move for you by listening your first listen today and every day you can find the show anywhere you get your podcasts Apple Spotify or anywhere else make sure to drop us a fivestar rating Leave us a nice review and of course be a friend. Tell a friend about Lock on Cavs. Make sure you’re subscribed. Make sure a friend is subscribed as well. And if you’re watching the show on YouTube as we get out of here, do us a favor. Hit that thumbs up button for us. Click subscribe. Hit that notification bell so you don’t miss the latest lock on Cavs content. I will be back tomorrow talking more about the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On this episode of Locked On Cavs, Danny Cunningham (The Inside Shot, Cleveland Magazine, 92.3 The Fan) explores the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers beyond the current season. He analyzes potential roster changes, focusing on the core trio of Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, and Darius Garland. The podcast examines contract situations of key players like Jarrett Allen and Max Strus, discussing their trade potential and impact on the team’s salary cap. Danny explains the implications of the second apron on the Cavs’ financial flexibility and ability to make trades, drawing parallels to recent moves by the Boston Celtics. He also addresses why Cleveland couldn’t pursue big-name trades for players like Kevin Durant or LeBron James, citing financial restrictions and long-term competitiveness concerns. The episode provides insights into the Cavaliers’ strategic decisions and potential moves in the coming years, offering valuable analysis for fans and fantasy basketball enthusiasts alike.
Check out Danny’s Substack, The Inside Shot: https://theinsideshot.substack.com/
Email the show: LOCavsmailbag@gmail.com

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