The Cleveland Cavaliers Are Imploding Just An Hour After Their Exit From NBA Playoffs

The 2024 Cleveland Cavaliers won their first playoff series without LeBron James in 30 years.

It seemed like the organization was heading in the right direction, but The Athletic’s Shams Charania dropped a gigantic truth bomb just an hour after they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

As it turns out, the Cavaliers’ perceived success from this season was in spite of some organizational upheaval.

We knew that Donovan Mitchell’s future was in question. The Cavaliers can offer him a supermax extension this summer, paying him more than any other team can.

However, Charania notes that Mitchell and other Cavs veterans doubted J.B. Bickerstaff’s coaching ability. They grew tired of him treating the locker room like a young team instead of one ready to compete.

Things got so intense that President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman walked into the coach’s office and unleashed on Bickerstaff after playing Mitchell too many minutes in an overtime victory against the Houston Rockets in front of the entire locker room. 

“(Altman) got at J.B.,” a player said of the incident. 

Fast forward to present day, and the Cavaliers were without Mitchell in their playoff finale against the Boston Celtics due to a calf injury. Jarrett Allen was out with bruised ribs. Caris LeVert was out as well with a knee injury.

Mitchell will have some influence over Bickerstaff’s future. Retaining him is of the utmost importance for Cleveland, who mortgaged multiple first-round picks and promising players including Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton to acquire the superstar from the Utah Jazz. 

It’s fair to assume that Mitchell would likely prefer to move on from Bickerstaff. But then what? He’d need to sign his extension, and that creates another problem, according to Charania.

Darius Garland, who made the All-Star Game in 2022 but has struggled to fit in with Mitchell at times, would likely explore a trade if Mitchell is extended. Garland seemingly graciously shared the spotlight with Mitchell publicly, but it’s evident that the pairing on the court might not work.

Garland’s production has significantly dipped and his development as a young player has completely halted. In July of 2022, he signed a five-year contract worth $193 million, making him the highest-paid player in Cavs history. That’s going to be a tough contract to move.

To add insult to injury— literally—Cavs center Jarrett Allen refused an injection to numb his bruised ribs. While nobody within the organization doubted the immense pain from this injury, it was frustrating that he was unwilling to give things a go against the Celtics.

Just for kicks, Charania included that Evan Mobley’s representatives at Wasserman warned the Cavs to not draft him in 2021. The Cavs did anyways. They’ve proceeded with a productive relationship ever since, but that has to make things a little awkward come extension time.

Where Do the Cavs Go From Here?

That’s a great question. According to Charania and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cavaliers are going to take a few days to decide on Bickerstaff’s future with the organization. It seems like that decision is pretty clear, though.

Altman should not be immune to criticism, either. 

As the President of Basketball Operations, it’s his literal job to make sure that this dysfunction didn’t happen. Well, the dysfunction happened to the highest degree, and now it became public all at once. 

There’s an insane amount of pressure on Altman to land the extension with Mitchell, which some could argue looks to be a trade that was made way too prematurely. 

This has the potential of being a pretty awkward offseason for the Cavaliers, and the ink from the final score sheet has barely dried.