The Cleveland Cavaliers have made some savvy moves so far this offseason, including trading Isaac Okoro to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Lonzo Ball. The Cavs are coming off of a 2024-25 season in which they nearly set a franchise record for wins but flamed out in the second round of the playoffs vs the Indiana Pacers, with injuries playing a considerable role.
The Cavs will have some tough decisions ahead of them in the coming years as it pertains to keeping one of the NBA’s most expensive rosters together, and recently, NBA insider Bobby Marks hit Cleveland with a harsh reality regarding its future.
“Winning an East-best 64 games, losing in the second round of the playoffs and then entering the offseason as a projected second apron team would usually see a front office break up its roster,” reported Marks. “But president of basketball operations Koby Altman has done the opposite despite entering the offseason with a $375 million payroll (they will pay the tax for the first time since 2018) and $20 million over the second apron.”
Marks noted that “in 2026-27, Cleveland has a projected $240 million in salary and is once again set to be a second apron team.”
However, it wasn’t all bad news that Marks reported.
“The Cavaliers are not boxed into a corner in how they add to their roster,” he added.” Despite the high costs, Cleveland has 11 out of 13 players on the current roster under contract next season and will add a 2026 first-round pick.”
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The big question for the Cavs heading into this offseason was how much of their playoff failure would be attributed to untimely injuries, and how much to poor roster construction. The answer was apparently the former, as the Cavs were able to largely keep their entire core together this summer, save for Ty Jerome, who departed in free agency for the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Cavs are hoping that more continuity, combined with the current injury-riddled state of the Eastern Conference, will be enough to push them back to the NBA Finals, where they haven’t been since LeBron James skipped town in 2018.
Doing so, however, will come at a price.
