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Cavaliers See Themselves as Title Contenders
Apr 2, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) celebrates with guard Donovan Mitchell (45) during the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Cavaliers See Themselves as Title Contenders

Originally posted on Cleveland Cavaliers on SI
By Jared Koch  |  Last updated Aug 9, 2025 6:45 PM ET

Following a Cleveland Cavaliers season that ended in a disappointing second-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers, it looks like this group is both energized and revitalized for a bounce-back season on the horizon inside the building.

Per Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor, head coach Kenny Atkinson has "a lot of confidence" in the Cavaliers' title chances next season, matching the same sentiment held within the organization surrounding the year ahead as a whole.

"There’s a lot of confidence from Kenny, and there’s a lot of confidence from people inside this organization that the Cavs are ready to compete for a championship,” Fedor said on the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. “And they do believe that they learned what they needed to learn. We’ll see — has to play itself out. But they do believe they learned what they needed to learn from the latest playoff exit.”

For Atkinson, the confidence comes after an extremely busy offseason of reported film study on that Pacers series, with Fedor noting that the Cavaliers head coach has re-watched the events of that series “so many different times trying to study that and learn from that.”

And the high hopes don't come without good reason. Not only have the Cavaliers put together a largely similar group from last season that put together 60-plus wins over the regular season, but the Eastern Conference is in an entirely different position from where things sat just one calendar year ago.

Of course, Ty Jerome will be out of the picture, same with Isaac Okoro, and Darius Garland could be in to miss the start of this season with a toe injury, so the start of the season won't be faced without its share of adjustments to be accounted for.

However, the core four from last year's successes are still set to be intact, now having an extra year of learning experiences under their belt, and each at or near the prime of their career. Based on the current landscape of the conference, it's hard to find a better talent from top to bottom in the East, and with that in mind, an NBA title seems very well within the line of sight.

Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Aspirations are steep in Cleveland this season. Time will tell if this group will meet the mark on those expectations.

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This article first appeared on Cleveland Cavaliers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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