The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t going to look drastically different during the 2023-24 season.
President of basketball operations Koby Altman told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com he plans on keeping the core four of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen together after they led the team to the playoffs last season:
“I intend that to be the case. I never make promises in case something were to miraculously happen, but all four know how important they are to this, and no conversations have happened. Outside of teams calling doing their job, no conversations have happened substantial that we envision breaking up this core. It’s a core that won 51 games last year and really has a lot more runway left. I think we’re going to continue to get better.”
The comments are notable because Fedor reported on June 22 that Cleveland received offers for Allen but didn’t see any of them as “appealing enough” to make a trade.
On paper, this makes sense.
After all, the Cavaliers went 51-31 last season and earned home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Mitchell (26), Allen (25), Garland (23) and Mobley (22) are all young and either in their prime or approaching what figures to be their prime.
They will also have some continuity in place in 2023-24 that wasn’t there last season, which was Mitchell’s first with the team following a trade with the Utah Jazz.
Still, it was fair to be concerned after the opening-round loss to the Knicks.
New York consistently exploited the two-big lineup with Mobley and Allen, both on the boards and by creating matchup problems. It was over in five games, and even Mitchell struggled to have the same type of impact he did during the regular season.
NBA Insider Marc Stein previously reported the Cavaliers were “open” to an Allen trade after his struggles in the Knicks’ series.
Yet it doesn’t seem like the front office is rushing to make any changes after the franchise’s first playoff appearance without LeBron James since 1998.
Perhaps with that additional experience, the core four can take the next step and become a title contender instead of just a playoff team.
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