Star guard Donovan Mitchell is tasked with trying to get the Cavs back to their 2016 title heights.
There are hard acts to follow, and then there are hard acts to follow: The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Godfather Part II, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour … and LeBron James bringing the Cleveland Cavaliers back from 3-1 down to win the city’s first NBA championship.
It was 10 years ago when that hoop earthquake hit and hell and Lake Erie froze over. Fast-forward to today, and the city’s still thawing. The Cavaliers haven’t returned to the scene of the sublime — no shame in that, actually — although it’s fair to wonder when or if that’ll happen again.
Because: Cleveland is very experienced with exceptionally long waits.
James makes his annual return — and maybe last-ever — to Cleveland on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), which will naturally regurgitate those glorious memories of 2016. At the same time, it may also spotlight the plight of the current Cavaliers, too.
Let’s take the last item first: Before these Cavs mimic 2016, they must try to top 2025. And that’s currently a work in progress for this group, which has dealt with injuries and is stutter-stepping through a season of highs and lows so far.
“I really wish we would leave last year alone,” said Cavs star Donovan Mitchell. “This is gonna be different. How we go about it is different.”
By now, it’s apparent that the Cavs (28-20) won’t duplicate last season’s 64 wins — it’s mathematically impossible — and are unlikely to capture the top seed in the East. They’re fifth and either a mini-winning (or mini-losing) streak away from falling below the six-team guaranteed playoff cutline or rising to second place. To date, they’ve lost more games than they did all of 2024-25.
Donovan Mitchell talks about the Cavs’ depth, what tipped off Cleveland’s turnaround and more after his 45-point night on Monday.
At the same time, that doesn’t mean this year won’t finish better than last season, when the Cavs were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Assuming they qualify for the 2026 playoffs, if they catch fire and get favorable matchups, anything is possible, especially for a team led by Mitchell, whose postseason resume is solid.
Mitchell is currently conducting an All-Star starter snub tour, scoring 33, 36 and 45 points since he was jilted. He’s in his prime and performing like a top-10 player who wants to be the hero in tight games. This season, he leads all players in second-half scoring and is averaging a career-high 29.5 points per game.
Because of that, the Cavs have a window. They have the required star and a handful of borderline stars and reasonable depth. Plus, Kenny Atkinson is the reigning NBA Coach of the Year.
Finally, the East doesn’t drip with the number of elite teams as the West, especially this season, assuming Jayson Tatum doesn’t return from injury to turbo-boost the surging Celtics. The conference is a toss-up, much like last season after the Cavs were eliminated and the Indiana Pacers went to the NBA Finals.
In the post-James era (the second one), the Cavs initially and understandably struggled when he defected to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018. In their first three seasons without him, they won 60 games combined, never made the playoffs and burned through four coaches. At least it allowed them to draft Darius Garland and Evan Mobley.
The Mitchell trade in 2022 signaled a change. It was costly — Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, three first-rounders and two swaps to Utah — but it boldly put the Cavs in contention, and here they are.
Forty-eight games into 2025-26 and Mitchell and Mobley are the only regular starters to play in at least 40 of them. Atkinson is juggling rotations and elevating role players as a result. In that sense, the Cavs’ record is better than expected.
Here are the key talking points:
• Garland’s availability: This is the big obstacle, and it has been all season. Garland is dealing with a right toe sprain. And that was his good big toe; his left one was surgically repaired last summer.
“He’s had some freak injuries,” said Mitchell.
As a result, Garland has played just 26 games, denying the Cavs his playmaking, ability to score 20-25 points and keep defenses from double-teaming Mitchell.
• Max Strus’ health: A valuable rotational shooter last season, Strus hasn’t played yet. He’s recovering from offseason surgery to repair a broken foot. He’s expected to be re-evaluated next month.
• What is Mobley’s ceiling?: After a breakout in 2024-25 when he was an All-Star, Mobley has flatlined, especially offensively. He’s shooting 30.4% on 3-pointers and defenses are leaving him open. He remains a solid rebounder (8.8 rpg) and defender (2 bpg), but overall hasn’t leveled up.
• Jaylon Tyson has arrived: He is this season’s uncovered gem, a 24-year-old 6-foot-6 guard making the most of his opportunity given Garland’s absence. Scoring 39 points earlier this month against the Sixers was his moment, and he’ll certainly remain in heavy rotation even when Garland returns.
“That kid is just different,” said Mitchell. “If Jaylon Tyson’s not in the discussion for the leader for [Kia] Most Improved [Player], then I don’t know what the award is for.”
• Other factors: Sam Merrill is among the league’s best 3-point shooters both in percentage (45.5%) and 3-pointers made per game (3.5). But, he hasn’t been immune to injuries, either, having overcome a right-hand sprain. With De’Andre Hunter struggling from deep (30.6%), Tyson and Mitchell have turned up the 3-point volume shooting out of necessity.
While conceding that “we haven’t won at the rate we want to,” Mitchell believes the best of the Cavs lies ahead.
“(Garland) is not playing right now, Sam’s not playing right now, Max is not playing right now,” Mitchell said. “The young guys filling in for those guys have been phenomenal. We got different guys in and out of the rotation. It’s all going to look different. The biggest thing is how we’re going about it. It’s not always going to be pretty. It’s at the point now where I don’t care how we do it.
“I think we’ve done a good job as a collective. Different year, different season. This is who we are. This team just continues to find ways. We’re going to find ways to win and this is going to help us ultimately.”
Even when the Cavs become whole again, plenty will depend on Mitchell’s ability to pull them up among the top contenders. That’s what stars do, what he’s qualified to do.
He’s arguably having his best season, given the circumstances. Mitchell is No. 5 in scoring (29.5 ppg) while shooting 48.5% overall and averaging 5.8 apg. He’s doing all that with the burden of needing to score greatly nearly every night for an incomplete team.
If the Cavs do prosper once the injuries heal, this could be their best chance to make their deepest post-season run since James kept tugboating the team to the NBA Finals year after year.
That 2016 run was magical. That’s when the Cavs were up against a 73-win Warriors team, fell behind 3-1, then rallied and rode Kyrie Irving’s Game 7 dagger and James’ greatness (chase-down block) to a ring and a swollen downtown parade.
LeBron James fulfills his promise to Cleveland and brings the Cavaliers their first NBA championship ever in a classic Game 7.
This could be LeBron’s final trip to Cleveland — he hasn’t publicly committed to another season — which means Wednesday could carry some significance. He’ll be a reminder of what the Cavs once were: a perennial championship contender that cashed in epically.
A completely different identity now comprises Cleveland, and with all of the injuries, the Cavs are still figuring themselves out. They cruised to the top seed in the East a year ago, but the outlook has changed.
“It’s a different story this year,” Atkinson said. “There’s more parity than ever in the league … so the race is tighter.”
The Cavs have Mitchell. They’ll be healthy soon. And they’ve won six of seven. Atkinson is hoping the winning streak “can push us to another level.”
Maybe not to the 2016 level. But can they at least give themselves a chance?
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at spowell@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.