The Cleveland Cavaliers are quietly positioning themselves as dark horse championship contenders, with the potential to be a Top 4 team in the Eastern Conference this season. Donovan Mitchell’s contract extension removes any offseason uncertainty, …
The Cleveland Cavaliers are quietly positioning themselves as dark horse championship contenders, with the potential to be a Top 4 team in the Eastern Conference this season. Donovan Mitchell‘s contract extension removes any offseason uncertainty, securing the All-Star guard for at least the next three years. Now, the focus shifts to new head coach Kenny Atkinson, who inherits a talented roster returning with the same formidable starting five.
After a promising run last year, the Cavaliers are poised to aim higher. Anything less than a deep playoff run will be considered a disappointment. Mitchell, one of the elite guards in the league, is a dynamic scorer who can create his own shot, facilitate for his teammates, and attack the rim. His backcourt partner, Darius Garland, also dealt with injuries in the postseason, but when healthy, the duo forms one of the most potent backcourts in the NBA.
The Cavs’ starting five – Mitchell, Garland, Max Strus, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen – ranks among the best in the league. While there may be concerns about depth, the combination of Mobley and Allen gives Cleveland a defensive edge, especially in the paint, where both excel as shot-blockers, averaging 1.4 and 1.1 blocks per game, respectively, last season. Mobley, only 22, continues to develop into a star, and his growth will be key to Cleveland’s success this season.
As the team looks to avoid the luxury tax (after re-signing Okoro), potential roster moves may involve cutting non-guaranteed contracts like Tristan Thompson or Sam Merrill. However, with the same roster largely intact, Atkinson’s coaching and Mobley’s continued development, particularly in improving floor spacing, will be the key factors in propelling the Cavaliers into serious championship contention.
Cleveland Cavaliers power forward/center Evan Mobley has agreed to a five-year, $224 million deal. His Wasserman Basketball representatives Joe Smith and Thad Foucher informed Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN about the deal.
In the 2023-24 NBA season with Cleveland, Mobley ended up playing in 50 games. He averaged 15.7 points per game to go along with 9.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.4 blocks. In addition to those averages, Mobley shot 57.9 percent from the floor and 37.3 percent on limited three-point attempts.
Mobley was the third overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft out of USC. He was an All-Rookie First Team selection in 2022 and an All-NBA Defensive First Team selection in 2023.
It has been a productive summer for the Cavaliers, who not only have inked Mobley to this max contract extension, but also hired Kenny Atkinson to replace J.B. Bickerstaff as the team’s head coach. They also signed Donovan Mitchell to his own three-year, $150.3 million maximum contract extension, keeping together the core of a team that has gone to back-to-back playoffs and has won 99 games over the past two years.
Cleveland Cavaliers F/C Evan Mobley has agreed on a five-year, $224 million maximum rookie contract extension that could become worth as much as $269 million, Joe Smith and Thad Foucher of @wassbasketball tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/sHu5KSb8aM
The Cleveland Browns shored up the depth of their receiving corps on Monday by signing University of Virginia product Ra’Shaun Henry, who entered the league last season as an undrafted free agent.
Originally signed by the Carolina Panthers following the 2022 NFL draft, Henry made a name for himself in Charlottesville as a reliable target who could make opposing defenses pay with his speed and creativity after the catch.
He tallied 34 catches for 603 yards and three touchdowns for the Cavaliers in 2021, good for an average of 17.7 yards per reception in his standout senior season.
Despite his proven production at the collegiate level, Henry should be considered a longshot to make the Browns’ 53-man roster, though he may have upside as a developmental piece of their practice squad. Watch for Henry to do his best to make a good impression on Cleveland’s coaching staff during the team’s mandatory minicamp as he tries to secure his place on the Browns’ depth chart for the 2023 season.
KD. DON’T YOU REGRET NOT COMING TO THE KNIIIIIICKS?
Remember the bing bong Knicks days? Good times, right? Well, they’re officially back after New York notched a home playoff win. It was a dominant one, too — the Knicks won 99-79.
Not only did New York lock the Cavaliers up and hold them under 80 points, but the Knicks also beat them by 20. It was New York’s first 20-point playoff win since 2013.
So, yeah. Knicks fans were feeling pretty good out there on Friday night. It doesn’t take much for New York to pour out into the streets and celebrate a Knicks win, so you know fans got right to it after this one.
One of those fans was the bing bong guy. Y’all remember him? The one that trolled Kevin Durant way back when? Well, even if you don’t, just know he’s back at it.
KD. DON’T YOU REGRET NOT COMING TO THE KNIIIIIIICKS.
Warning: There is some NSFW language in this tweet
Man. Asking KD that right now is wild considering he’s on the opposite coast now. I’m not sure the guy is thinking about New York anymore, let alone the Knicks.
But still, this is hilarious, man. These folks are relentless. You absolutely love to see it if you’re not a Cavaliers fan.
If the Knicks win this series? Whew. These fans might actually start floating. We’ll see. The Cavaliers have some work to do.
The Memphis Grizzlies, man. Drama is just following them all over the place so far this season. Well, to be honest, it’s following Dillon Brooks, in particular.
First, it was the near dust-up with Shannon Sharpe a few weeks ago. They got into a spat that felt like it could’ve spilled onto the court at any minute, which was pretty ridiculous.
Now, Brooks is in the middle of a beef with Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell has good reason to be mad, too — it was Brooks that started things this time.
“Him and I have had our personal battles for years. Quite frankly, I’ve been busting his ass for years…The one game he does an alright job on me, he decides to do something like that. There’s no place for that in the game. You’ve got to protect yourself at the end of the day.”
WHEW that is spicy. “Quite frankly?” Nah, man. Mitchell didn’t hold anything back there. As the Grizzlies say, he wanted all the smoke.
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Seasons greetings, folks! Happy Holidays. Welcome to the Festivus edition of Layup Lines. It’s Sykes here to guide you into the weekend’s NBA action.
First, I have some Festivus grievances about this season so far that I need to get off. For those of you who don’t know, Festivus is the day during the holiday season in which you air your grievances about, well, whatever. Seinfeld made it a popular thing, thought it isn’t nationally celebrated.
So let’s dive right into it. Here are my 5 Festivus grievances about the NBA season so far.
Can we talk about league parity more? I mean, my goodness, man. This is what people have said the NBA has been missing for so long. Now, we’ve got 6 19-win teams in the West and 6 18+ win teams in the East. There are no super teams. It feels like anyone can win it all. Let’s celebrate that instead of talking about other team’s shortcomings. Speaking of which…
Stop talking about the Lakers. I don’t want to hear about the Lakers anymore. Not until LeBron James breaks that scoring record. They don’t really have anything to trade outside of two current middle schoolers and that’s not enough to move anyone. So let’s move on.
Nikola Jokic might be MVP again. Deal with it. I’m starting the conversation here now. The Nuggets are the No. 1 seed in the West and the dude is averaging nearly 25 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists. The Nuggets are legit contenders. Don’t get all whiny about analytics if he wins the thing again. That’s not a good look.
Put some respect on the Cavaliers. All you hear about in the Eastern Conference is the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks. But the last time I checked, the Cavaliers have handled them both quite well. They’re 1 game back of the No. 1 seed in the East. They’re a legitimate contender and need to be addressed as such.
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Ja Morant isn’t worried about the rest of the Western Conference at all. When asked by ESPN’s Malika Andrews what teams he saw as the Grizzlies’ competition, he said the Boston Celtics.
That’s a team Memphis would have to meet in the finals. The implication here is that he’s not worried about anyone in the West as competition which, uh, I don’t know. There are lots of pretty good teams out there.
But my guy Cole Huff actually thinks Morant has a point. He wrote about it on Thursday.
“Based on Morant’s response, there’s no one in the West to worry about. But you can see where he’s coming from.
The Grizzlies are 19-11 on the season, which is tied for the best record in the conference. And they’ve done all of this damage without their starting lineup having logged a single minute together this season due to injuries.”
That’s a fair point. We’ll see how this shakes out come May.
Nets (-2.5, -105) vs. Bucks (+120), O/U 228.5, 7:30 PM ET
The Nets and Bucks have formed a bit of a rivalry over the last few years. This is always an incredible matchup. You’ve got two of the best five or so players facing each other head to head in Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee just took a tough loss to the Cavaliers and they’ve only lost back-to-back games once so far this year. I’m taking Milwaukee +2.5 in a close one.
That’s all, folks! Enjoy the weekend. Happy Holidays!
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But now, imagine throwing a couple of brothers in the mix. The mic’d up session all of a sudden becomes pure comedy. That’s what happened with the Lopez twins on Wednesday night.
Brook Lopez’s Milwaukee Bucks played against Robin Lopez’s Cleveland Cavaliers and Robin was mic’d up. The results were fantastic.
Robin completely exposed Brook’s theater background, which is why he’s apparently a master flopper. You need to hear this yourself.
This is fantastic. The flop. The turnover and Robin Lopez calling it an assist. This is probably exactly how it used to be in the backyard. It seems so great. More of this, please. Can these two play every game against each other?
Everyone is laughing at the Knicks, but they did the right thing
The New York Knicks, man. They just continue to be the team it’s super easy to make fun of.
We even joined in on the fun here on draft night when it was not very obvious what their strategy was going into things. They came out of all that with a hoard of draft picks.
Draft picks most people expected them to move for one Donovan Mitchell. But, uh, they didn’t. Instead, they signed RJ Barrett to an extension, essentially removing the possibility of him being in any Mitchell trade moving forward. They also hilariously dropped this tweet when the Mitchell news broke.
Except for Knicks fans, of course. They now have all these draft picks with nothing to really show for it. Which, on the surface, is pretty funny. Think about it. They did all that work on draft night to get these picks and then did absolutely nothing with them.
People are going to laugh at that. Not just because it’s funny, but also because it’s the Knicks. Jokes were flying across the internet.
The Jazz just brought in an absolutely massive haul for their 3-time All-Star. It includes a number of unprotected draft picks, a couple of pick swaps between the two teams, a prospect in Ochai Agbaji and veteran players in Colin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen.
Full trade: Utah is trading Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland for Lauri Markkanen, Ochair Agbaji, Collin Sexton, three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps, sources tell ESPN.
![Donovan Mitchell had an honest explanation for Dillon Brooks’ low blow: ‘I’ve been busting his [expletive] for years’](https://feeds.usatodaysports.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Memphis_Grizzlies_at_Cleveland_Cavaliers-1200x800.jpeg)
