The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off a season where they went 44-38, which is the best record that they have had since LeBron James left the franchise in the summer of 2018.
They finished the season as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, but unfortunately lost to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament, so they missed the NBA Playoffs.
On the contrary, they are now going to be expected to be much better than they were last season, because on Saturday the team officially announced the acquisition of three-time NBA All-Star Donovan Mitchell.
Via the press release from the Cavs: “The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired NBA All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell in a trade with the Utah Jazz, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts. In exchange, Cleveland has sent guard Collin Sexton (via sign and trade) , forward Lauri Markkanen, guard Ochai Agbaji and three future unprotected first round draft picks (2025, 2027, 2029) to Utah, while also agreeing to swap picks in 2026 and 2028”
Sexton is a very talented guard who averaged 24.3 points per contest in 2021, but he only played in 11 games last season.
As for Markkanen, he played in 61 games and averaged a respectable 14.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per contest last season.
Therefore, Sexton did not play a big part in their success last season, and while Markkanen played a modest role, Mitchell is a major upgrade.
They were able to keep their core of Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Caris LeVert, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Isaac Okoro all intact.
Mitchell has been an All-Star in each of the last three seasons, and is coming off a season where he averaged 25.9 points per contest.
He is without question one of the best 25 players in the NBA (probably much higher).
In addition, he has never missed the NBA Playoffs in all five seasons that he has been in the NBA.
There is no question that the Eastern Conference just got a lot tougher, and the Cavs should be expected to be a top-five seed.
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