Cleveland Cavaliers - Grading the Post LeBron Era
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- Created: Monday, 25 May 2026 18:37
- Written by Ax D. WhiteMan
It's the afternoon prior to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. I started out wanting to grade the Cavs 2025-26 season, which may seem premature given that the season may extend beyond tonight, but - I don't think it is; and then decided to grade the entire era instead.
Here's why...
In order to fairly grade this season, one must consider the context of the previous 7 seasons, which I think most would agree, can be called the "Post Lebron" era for the Cavs. It's only fair to re
call that this team, after being accustomed to reaching the NBA Finals every year; fell to the depths of irrelevancy when LeBron departed after the 2017 - 18 season. Also worth remembering LeBron didn't just leave, but prior to leaving lobbied ownership for big contracts for Tristan Thompson, JR Smith, and Kevin Love; which put the Cavs in horrible position to improve the roster. The Cavs spent 3 seasons winning a total of 60 games, but quietly getting out from under the "post LeBron" contract problems, and building a base of solid talent.
The current Cavs team is an evolution of the first serious version of the Post Lebron Cavs that debuted in 2021. I still recall the evening I called my sister in Cleveland and had to tell her, "I'm serious, the Cavs are GOOD, they're really GOOD - you have to start watching again!" She, like many Clevelanders lost a good deal of interest in the Cavs since they wandered through the depths of NBA irrelavance to the point that they weren't even invited to Florida to complete the season in the bubble. But while the 2021 season started with a bang, it ended with a whimper. The Cavs didn't play well the last third of the season, fell into the play in, and lost both play in rounds.
Much of the next 2 seasons were similar. Great starts, weaker towards the end, and dissapointing playoff results. The memories of the 23 1st round loss to the Knicks are particularly remincsent today as the Cavs face an 0-3 deficit. The situation was a bit different then though. Cavs were favored, and it was round 1. Cavs seemed out of sorts and generally played with little "force" or "intensity." The 2024 playoffs earned a round 1 win, but echoes of the previous year rung in the ears of Cavs fans as the team went out to a 2 - 0 series lead, then needed to summon a super human performance from Donavan Mitchell so salvage a 7 game round 1 win. The 2nd round exit against the Celtics wasn't unexpected, but the uninspired performance lead to the end of the Bickerstaff era.
In 2024 - 25 new Head Coach Kenny Atkinson lead the Cavs to an amazing 64 win season in which they never relinquished First Place in the Eastern Conference, then stormed into the playoffs totally destroying the 8th seed Miami Heat; only to be humbled by an upstart #4 seed Indiana Pacers team in 5 games. Again, spector of waning energy and lack of "intensity" plagued the Cavs in the Pacers series. COTY Kenny Atkinson even remarked after one loss, "We couldn't sustain it longer than we could," citing the Cavs inability to match the intensity of the Pacers.
The challenge for 2025 - 26 was to be able to manage a very talented Cavs team, and be able to peak the force and intensity at the right time to be playing their best at the END of the season rather than at the START. The early season was plagued with injuries and the Cavs had a dissapointing start. The team began to get healthy near the All Star break, and it seemed the Cavs might be building toward a good late season run. The trade deadline moves to acquire, Harden, Shroeder, and Ellis, changed the team a bit - but seemed a bit energizing and confusing at the same time. Cavs went on to win two very physical 7 game playoff series against #5 Toronto, and #1 Detroit. Cavs seemed ready to put the "soft" and "lack of late season intensity" behind them for good.
And they did.
For 40 minutes of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Then in the final 8 minutes, it all came back. Like a recurring nightmare.
The insurmountable lead dwindled, the dominanent, intense, forecful Cavs went into hibernation. The plodding, wilting, heavy footed Cavs of the past 4 seasons end returned, and they seem here to stay - at least for one more game. If this remains the course, and it most likely will; the Cavs will once again have found a way to end the season on a soul crushing note - even though they went toe to toe with the Raptors, and upset the #1 seed Pistons; being swept by a decent but far from legendary Knicks team - is a tough pill to swallow. It probably will happen though, and if it does, I still grade the Season as an A- and the overall rebuild of the post LeBron era as an A+.
Heres' why...
The Cavs hit the wall at the 40 minute mark in Game 1. Fourteen grueling playoff games against very physical opponents took its toll. Cavs starters played heavier minutes than usual at the end of the Pistons series, and into Game 1. With a 22 point lead and 8 minutes to go, they thought it was enough. It wasn't. The worst possible outcome of Game 1 wasn't a loss, it was "an overtime loss." A very talented, very fatigued Cavs team had to play an extra 5 minutes to watch a certain win, become a crushing defeat. In each successive game, the Cavs "intensity" has been good at the start, but even though Kenny didn't say it, once again, "We couldn't sustain it longer than we could," certainly seems to apply here. The situation is different than last year though. The Cavs have already "left it all on the court" for 2 tough playoff series. The Knicks rested 8 days while the Cavs played full tilt every other day for 12 straight games. Starting the series on less than 48 hours rest made game one almost impossible. I even advocated for sitting the starters and conceding game one. (of course nobody agrees with that).
I expect the Cavs will come out tonight with enough intensity to win, but physical fatigue doesn't lie, and it can't be overcome by "will." I expect sometime between the end of the 2nd and the middle of the 3rd quarter, the Knicks will separate and the season will in end for the Cavs. Even if that's the result, the Cavs have been an outstanding team for the last 5 consecutive seasons, and have rebuilt an irrelevant team in shambles after LeBron's exit into a perrenial powerhouse that is respected throughout the NBA. The Cavs have built a solid core of current talent with Allen, Mobley, Mitchell, Strus, Merril, developing young talents in Tyson and Proctor, and a sound couple of outstanding veterans in Harden and Shroeder. It would be criminal to "burn it down" in the off season and go back to the irrelevance of the early post LeBron years, in the hopes of striking lighting in a bottle. Kudos to Dan Gilbert and the Cavs organization. You've built a team that an entire fan base can be proud of for years to come!
OK one last thing. Maybe, just maybe, the Knicks are also feeling a bit of fatigue right now. It's NOT IMPOSSIBLE, that the Cavs pull one out tonight. I don't expect it - but it's not impossible. And if they do, the Cavs have plenty of talent to do what 's never been done; and I've got to thank the Cavs for even being able to have that thought, watching my team play on Memorial Day weekend. GO CAVS!