Those in and around the Cleveland Cavaliers seem to know it: Evan Mobley is the key that must unlock the franchise’s hopes of raising a championship banner for the first time since 2016.
Little by little, the former No. 3 overall pick has shown growth since being drafted, and it’s no coincidence that his best season yet overlapped with a 64-win regular season for the Cavs. Mobley started to put it all together in the 2024-25 campaign, winning Defensive Player of the Year honors while elevating his offensive game to the tune of 18.5 points per contest.
Now, he needs to take it a step further.
Cleveland has a golden opportunity to push for an NBA title this coming season. Will Mobley help the team get there?
If not Mobley, then who?
The Cavs now have three seasons of data to work with when evaluating their “core four.” With Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Mobley in the fold, the squad is shooting 100 percent at making the playoffs and 67 percent at making it out of the first round, but has failed to get any further than the second round of the postseason.
To this point, the production from those four hasn’t been enough in the playoffs. So, where is the extra lift going to come from?
Mitchell can’t do much more than he already is. After an iffy playoff showing in 2023, he averaged nearly 30 points per game in the 2024 and 2025 postseasons. Garland has playoff question marks, due partly to poor injury luck and partly to inconsistent production (there’s a relationship between the two). Allen is an incredibly efficient offensive player, but his scoring opportunities are sporadic due to his role and style of play.
That leaves Mobley. He has the most untapped potential of any member of the core, and if the Cavs can rely on him to regularly score 20 or more points, there will be no more questions about who needs to step up each night.
What are some reasonable goals and expectations?
Mobley got his Defensive Player of the Year award this past season, and it’s a good thing he did, because it may be Victor Wembanyama’s award for the foreseeable future.
Still, it’s reasonable to want and expect Mobley to be in the running for the award for years to come, and there’s really no reason to worry about whether he can do so. We know what he is on the defensive end. The question is how far he can reach on the offensive end.
Let’s set a few goals for Mobley on offense this season:
1. Garland is expected to miss some time to start the season, possibly around 10 games. This should give Mobley a golden opportunity to eat that usage and begin the season in an aggressive manner. The goal? For Mobley to average 15+ shots per game before Garland returns.
2. Overall last season, Mobley averaged 12.8 shots per game from the field and 3.2 shots per game from beyond the arc. His season-long averages in the upcoming campaign need to grow in those areas. The goal? For Mobley to average 14+ field-goal attempts and 4+ 3-point attempts per game over the course of the season.
3. Mobley averaged a career-high 18.5 points per game last season, an increase of 2.3 over his previous career-high. The next benchmark for him to hit in that department is obvious. The goal? For Mobley to average 20+ points per game in the upcoming regular season.
4. In the 2025 NBA Playoffs, Mobley averaged roughly two fewer shots per game than he did in the regular season. He needs to mentally embrace the challenge of being a killer on the floor, something that means rising to the occasion in big moments. The goal? For Mobley to average more shots per game in the 2026 NBA Playoffs than he does in the 2025-26 regular season.
How does he get there?
The Cavs have been working for a long time on empowering Mobley. As much as we could talk about what he needs to do on the floor in order to elevate his game, the biggest key for him is to buy into the idea that he has what it takes to become a premier offensive player. The aggressive approach needs to be mental before anything else.
The efforts to empower Mobley are ongoing, with Mitchell saying as recently as this offseason that Mobley is just scratching the surface on offense.
“Now it’s about aggression, consistency, demanding the ball,” Mitchell said of Mobley. “That’s what I keep telling him. No, we need more. Demand it. If I don’t pass you the ball, get on my a–. If D.G. don’t give you the ball, get on his a–.”
The efforts may be paying off, with Mobley saying earlier this month that he can see himself winning the MVP award in the 2026-27 season.
Evan Mobley responds to a fan predicting him to win MVP in 2027:
“I think I can do that. That definitely can be true.”pic.twitter.com/CHMnGoFFTY
— ¹⁰ (@HoodiGarland) August 3, 2025
The belief appears to be building for Mobley, and if the confidence grows to a point where he’s impolitely aggressive on offense, there may be no stopping him or the Cavs.