Cleveland Cavaliers Placed in Surprising Tier of NBA Title Contenders

After the madness of this year's NBA postseason and the NBA Finals now behind us, the lookahead to what's to come for next season across the league and how the coming title pursuit could shake out has already begun to ensue.

Following the Oklahoma City Thunder's Game 7 victory, they've already been pinned as the NBA's favorites to take home the title once again in 2026 across sportsbooks and initial projections from the likes of those at ESPN and other outlets, but not too far behind them sits one intriguing candidate for next year's NBA championship: the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Just after the Thunder's title, ESPN's Tim Bontemps outlined a tier list for who could be the closest to an NBA championship across the league now that the action of the 2025 playoffs has wrapped up, where the Cavaliers stacked up with the second spot in a tier labeled: "It pays to be in the East"

"The Cavaliers had a terrific regular season with the second-highest win total in franchise history, before falling flat in their Eastern Conference semifinal loss to the Pacers," Bontemps wrote. "But while the Cavaliers had some issues exposed in that series, there aren't a lot of avenues for them to be addressed, given Cleveland has a decision to make on Ty Jerome, who is going to get a significant raise from the $2.5 million he made this season. (The same goes for Sam Merrill and his $2.1 million.) But unless the Cavaliers make trades, they'll be largely running it back."