When a franchise accomplishes a feat they never achieved with LeBron James, that’s saying something. This season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have jumped out to their best start in team history, 13–0. The previous best start was way back in the 1976–77 season, when the Cavs started 8–0 before ultimately finishing the season 43–39.
Going into last season, the Cavs carried heavy expectations. After early playoff exits the previous two years, they were looking to make a deep run towards the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. A respectable 48–34 finish in the regular season earned them the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs squeaked by the Orlando Magic in seven games in the first round of the playoffs before falling in five games to the eventual champion Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals.
In the offseason, the front office deemed it time for a change. The Cavs fired head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. In Bickerstaff’s tenure, he transformed the franchise from a yearly lottery team to a perennial playoff contender. However, the team never soared to the top of the Eastern Conference and was unable to beat elite teams in the playoffs.
The Cavs hired his replacement, Kenny Atkinson, with the hopes that he would be able to elevate the Cavs with his play style. Previously the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets from 2016 to 2020 and assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors from 2021 to 2024, Atkinson expressed his belief that all the Cavs were missing was a change in philosophy.
The Cavs returned their top nine rotational players from last season. The roster is the same, yet it is producing better results. They are playing at a much faster pace — eighth in the NBA this season compared to 24th last year. Rather than being locked into low-scoring dog-fighting in the fourth quarter, the Cavs are running teams out of the building. On Nov. 8 against the Steph Curry-led Golden State Warriors, the Cavs had an 83–42 lead into the locker room at halftime. The 41-point lead was the largest in franchise history and ties the eighth largest in NBA history.
They are able to play at a faster pace effectively in part because of Atkinson’s rotations. Last season, five players logged over 30 minutes per game, but this season it’s only two — star combo guard Donovan Mitchell and defensive stallworth Evan Mobley.
The Cavs are headlined by the core four: Mitchell, Mobley, Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen. In the quartet’s fourth year together, they have played their best brand of basketball — the brand the Cavs envisioned when they acquired Mitchell from the Utah Jazz in 2021.
Garland has returned to his dynamic 2021 form, when he was named an all-star for the first time in his career. A broken jaw early last season caused Garland to miss nearly two months. After undergoing surgery, he lost 10 pounds — he was only able to eat food through a straw. This season, Garland has averaged 20.5 PPG and 6.6 APG to lead the team. Garland was named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week from Nov. 4 to Nov. 10, leading the Cavs to a 4–0 week after averaging a team-leading 25 PPG and shooting over 61 percent from the field and 57 percent from three.
Mitchell has been the Cavs’ best player since he arrived in 2021. However, this season, his scoring average is down; he is currently averaging 23.6 PPG compared to 26.6 last season. His role on offense has diminished as well, taking nearly three fewer shots per game this season. Despite that, Mitchell is still beyond capable of taking control of the game. On Nov. 11, in a 119–113 victory over the Chicago Bulls, Mitchell scored 36 points while making seven threes, including a 360 layup that left fans at the United Center in disbelief.
The Cavs’ frontcourt duo of Mobley and Allen have established themselves as one of the best defensive back lines in basketball. Mobley, a versatile new-age big-man who is more than capable of switching onto a guard on the perimeter, is averaging over one steal and one and a half blocks per game. On top of that, the team’s faster pace has unlocked more of Mobley’s offensive prowess. He has started to blossom into a more complete version of the player the Cavs believed in when they selected him third overall in 2021. After finishing third two seasons ago, he will once again be in the mix for Defensive Player of the Year. Mobley’s backline partner, Allen, has been a powerful presence as a screener and on the glass. He boasts almost 11 RPG, over one block per game, and nearly a steal per game.
Wings Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade man the fifth starting spot for the Cavs, depending on the matchups. Okoro often matches up on the opposing team’s best offensive player while Wade spaces the floor with his three point shooting. The guard trio of Caris LeVert, Sam Merrill and Ty Jerome provide the Cavs an offensive spark off the bench. All three are currently shooting over 36 percent from three with Jerome shooting an absurd 57.7 percent from behind the arc.
The Cavs’ offensive has been the best in basketball to date. Leading the league in scoring at 121.8 points per game on average, the Cavs have shot 51.8 percent from the field as a team and over 41 percent from three — both the best marks in the league.
The Cavs are eventually going to lose a game. The last team to start a season 10–0 was the 2015–16 Warriors, who started the season 24-0 and went on to finish with the best regular season record in NBA history, 73–9. On paper, the Warriors may have a better roster than the Cavs, but so far, Cleveland has shown no sign of showing down.
There are still a lot of games left — just under 70 to go in the regular season — and the playoffs are months away, but early returns show that the Cavs made the right decision with Atkinson. Now, it remains to be seen if he and his club could do what Bickerstaff could not: win in the playoffs, when it matters the most.
