There is always great urgency for the Cleveland Cavaliers to finally get their breakthrough and win the NBA championship after years of being in the running. Their trade for James Harden back in February certainly put them on more of a timer as far as their contending dreams go, and they went for it even further this offseason by addressing a longstanding roster issue they’ve had in the Donovan Mitchell era by trading for a legitimate wing player in Peyton Watson.
The Cavs at least made some forward progress last season, as they made it to the Conference Finals for the first time in the Mitchell era. This was also Mitchell’s first Conference Finals appearance, individually-speaking. So it’s not like their contending dreams are dead in the water.
They did get swept by the eventual champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, but they were competitive for stretches and may have made it a closer series had they not choked away Game 1.
But at the end of the day, this certain reality of how this Cavs roster is built makes it so that getting over the hump becomes very difficult and would require a lot of things to go in their favor.
This is the fatal flaw that will doom the Cavs’ 2027 NBA championship chances.
Overreliance on superstar backcourt could doom Cavs
With Watson now on board, the Cavs have scarcely any weaknesses. They have the personnel to shapeshift depending on the opposition. Watson can contain opposing bigger forwards and provide excellent weak side help. Mario Hezonja could provide more length and range on the defensive end, and he could make opponents pay for putting smaller defenders on him. Putting Evan Mobley at the five is the solution for when they come up against speedier and smaller teams.
With Jarrett Allen still on the team, the Cavs have the size as well to compete against bigger contending teams, as they can muck it up on the interior with the best of them. Without him, they may have gotten eliminated at the hands of the Detroit Pistons in the 2026 NBA playoffs.
They could even deploy Sam Merrill to chase opposing guards around screens and hound them for 94 feet, and Merrill provides the kind of shooting threat that the Cavs need after losing Max Strus.
Suffice to say, depth is not the Cavs’ issue, and once again, they have come up with a solution to their questionable personnel at the three over these past few seasons. But a playoff team can only go as far as their best players can take them. Can Mitchell and Harden actually pull it off come postseason time?
That is a valid question to ask. But a lot of the Cavs’ offense revolves around their superstar backcourt and whether they could fill the scoring column enough. When the going gets rough, the Cavs need to be able to rely on Mitchell and Harden to show up every single night the way Jalen Brunson did for the Knicks in their run to the title last season.
And thus far, there is evidence that a team with Mitchell as its best player can only go so far. It seems like the Cavs’ star shooting guard, despite filling up the stat sheet, freezes up when the going gets rough, and that makes Cleveland susceptible to losing control of games in the fourth quarter.
For instance, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks, Mitchell missed all three of his shot attempts and turned the ball over once in the final 7:49 of regulation as the Cavs lost control of a 22-point lead.
For any team with championship aspirations, they would want their best player to get touches and take them home during tough playoff games on the road. But Mitchell seemed almost content to defer to Harden instead of taking command of the situation and calming his team down.
Mitchell has had difficulties fighting off his hero ball tendencies in the past, so perhaps this was why he wanted his teammates to be involved as well. But as the superstar of this team, the Cavs need him to strike just the right balance between getting his teammates involved and taking over when the team needs him to. This was what Brunson mastered throughout the 2026 NBA playoffs, and this is something Mitchell has to learn.
This is especially the case now that Harden, who doesn’t have the best playoff track record, is a year older. At 37 years of age, Harden has lost a step or two. In five games thus far this season, the Cavs floor general is averaging 17.4 points and 6.2 assists per game, his worst numbers since his days on the Oklahoma City Thunder, while shooting a career-worst 36.2% from the field.
Harden’s threat as a playmaker and shot-creator remains, but it’s evident as to which player should commandeer this Cavs team. Mitchell has to be able to leverage his elite scoring threat from distance and when attacking the basket to making his teammates better, and now that he’s 30 years of age, it might be difficult for a veteran to suddenly learn a new trick.
It’s also becoming clear that this might just be who Mobley is on the offensive end. While he’s an All-Star-caliber player and a sensational defensive piece, the leap many expect on offense just may not come, which means that it’s Mitchell’s responsibility to drag this team over the hump like the great ones truly do.
The recipe for a Cavs championship run seems to be very simple, at least on paper. Mitchell takes on more of a leadership role on the court and helps make his teammates better. Harden is more of an opportunistic scorer who sets up consistent openings for his teammates to exploit. Mobley blossoms into more of a consistent and assertive scorer, especially in the paint, taking advantage of mismatches.
All of those will have to come together for a two-month stretch starting in April, or else the story for the Cavs come playoff time will be the same old.
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