NBA
Cavaliers GM says team must return stronger next season as expectations grew
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All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated4 hours ago on May 20, 2025
If there is one thing that’s for sure, is that Cleveland will enter next season as a totally different team than the one who began this 2024-25 campaign. Throughout the past year, they reached the NBA’s best record and fought until their playoff conference-semifinal elimination at the hands of the Pacers.
The club’s general manager Koby Altman is already preparing the Cavaliers for an even greater 2025-26 competition, after acknowledging how expectations have grown within the organization. His main goal is to make his roster mentally and physically tougher.
“I think we can all agree that coming into the season no one predicted us to be [the] No. 1 seed. I don’t think anyone had 64 wins. Because we were so good we re-created the expectation of Finals. I think everyone in here saw potential champions, which is a new space for us,” Altman shared this Monday.
The executive then added: “We re-created the expectation and now we have to live with that. I think it’s a space we want to live in and take that into the playoffs next year, knowing we’re going to have to change that narrative, knowing that we have get over the hump.”
The Cleveland club has enjoyed a steady improvement over the past four years, having rebuilt the roster four-consecutive appearances to the NBA Final from 2015 to 2018. The organization has created a strong core with Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.
“We’re going to go as a franchise as Evan is going to go. And we’ve had that conversation with Evan,” Koby said during Monday’s end-of-season media availability. “In the playoffs, we need more. We need more than 13 field goal attempts per game — that’s new for Evan. There’s another jump.”
The Cavs became the East’s top seed for the first time in nine years, plus a 16-win improvement in NBA Coach of the Year Kenny Atkinson’s debut campaign. “Kenny’s going to be able to implement his offseason program, which we’re very excited about. And we’re going to see some internal growth there,” the GM explained.
