The Cleveland Cavaliers have had some truly fun seasons during their “core four” era, but it’s no secret that they haven’t had enough playoff success for a group as talented as this one.
Cleveland’s trade for star guard Donovan Mitchell in the 2022 offseason marked the beginning of the core’s time together. Since then, the Cavs have completed three seasons and made the playoffs in all of them. But they have yet to advance past the second round, with their overall playoff record across those three seasons sitting below .500 at 11-15.
Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson wants his squad to use that record as motivation.
“Day 1 of training camp, Kenny Atkinson, the head coach, decides to set a tone,” team insider Chris Fedor said during a podcast. “What’s the theme of this season? Figure out the freaking playoffs. He puts 11-15 right in front of their face and that’s the Cavs playoff record over the last three years … he wanted the team to have to own that.”
It’s a good sign that Atkinson is willing to challenge his guys, especially since this is a season where the Cavs need to have a sense of urgency that they can unleash in the spring. If they fail to make a deep run in the playoffs this season, one has to imagine that changes could be on the horizon.
It’s a delicate balance for Cleveland, as the urgency needs to be there when the playoffs arrive despite the fact that the team doesn’t have a ton to prove in the regular season. While playing well and earning a top seed are important boxes to check, there is likely nothing the Cavs can do before the postseason arrives that would change the perception of them after their success in the 2024-25 regular season didn’t translate to the playoffs.
In each of the last two years, the team that eliminated Cleveland in the playoffs ended up representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. In 2024, it was the Boston Celtics who beat the Cavs in the second round before later reaching (and winning) the NBA Finals. In 2025, it was the Indiana Pacers who ended Cleveland’s season before extending their playoff run all the way to Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
This season, the best way for the Cavs to end that trend would be by making the NBA Finals themselves.