Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers have spent most of their existence being defined by one man’s presence or absence, and for the first time in franchise history, they are building something that does not require LeBron James’s postcode to function. Founded in 1970, the Cavs won their sole championship in 2016 when James orchestrated the most improbable comeback in Finals history — overturning a 3-1 deficit against the 73-win Warriors — and then promptly left again, because that is what LeBron does. Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, a 19,432-seat arena in downtown Cleveland, now hosts a team that has moved emphatically beyond the LeBron dependency.

Under Kenny Atkinson, the Cavaliers posted a stunning 64-18 record in 2024-25, the best in the Eastern Conference and a statement of intent that no one outside Ohio saw coming. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland form a backcourt partnership that combines scoring ferocity with playmaking intelligence, while the Evan Mobley-Jarrett Allen frontcourt twin towers provide the defensive foundation upon which everything else is built. This is not a team riding one superstar’s coattails. This is a roster constructed with purpose, balance, and genuine depth.

Cleveland’s defensive identity is the backbone of their excellence — Mobley’s versatility and Allen’s rim protection create a defensive wall that opponents spend entire possessions trying to penetrate — but Mitchell’s explosive scoring ensures the Cavaliers are equally dangerous in transition and in the half-court. The 64-win season was not a fluke. This team is built to sustain success, and for the first time since the pre-LeBron era, Cleveland’s basketball identity belongs to the franchise rather than to a single transcendent individual.

Club Information

Club Profile

The Cavaliers enter 2025-26 as the Eastern Conference’s most complete team, and the 64-win season was not a peak — it was a platform. Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Allen form a core that is young enough to improve and talented enough to contend right now, which is the rarest combination in professional basketball. Australian fans watching via ESPN and Kayo Sports are being treated to a franchise that has finally discovered its identity does not need to be borrowed from a superstar who left twice. Cleveland is its own team now. That is the most dangerous thing it has ever been.

VS — Chief sports columnist, australiafootball.com