Hanifan's Offseason Outlook: Evaluating the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2024 offseason

Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! Today, we are looking back on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offseason!

Previous Offseason Outlooks:

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Additions: None.

Subtractions: Isaac Okoro, Marcus Morris, Pete Nance, Damian Jones, Isaiah Mobley

Re-signed: Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Emoni Bates, Tristan Thompson

Draft: Jaylon Tyson (No. 20 overall), Luke Travers (No. 56)

Hanifan’s Take: Upon getting eliminated in five games to the eventual-champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semis, there were widespread rumors that Cleveland’s backcourt (Mitchell, Darius Garland) would be split up–one way or another. As of right now, it’s not changed. Cleveland elected to bring back nine of its top-10 rotation players from a year ago. The one exception: Isaac Okoro, a restricted free agent who was reportedly offered a multi-year offer that he has yet to accept. Donovan Mitchell put pen to paper on a new extension worth three years, $150.3 million; Cleveland also handed out extensions to big men Jarrett Allen (three years, $90 million) and Evan Mobley (five years, $224 million; rookie max) as well. Essentially, the Cavaliers’ core–Mitchell, Darius Garland, Allen and Mobley–is locked up through 2027-28; the quartet will account for nearly $174 million that season alone. That number could increase by $9 million if Mobley makes an All-NBA team, wins Defensive Player of the Year or MVP in 2024-25, courtesy of the Rose Rule. Whew! Additionally, the Cavaliers brought in former Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson to replace J.B. Bickerstaff. Atkinson’s staffs did a great job developing young talent in Brooklyn–such as Allen and current Cavs guard Caris LeVert. I also think both Mitchell and Garland–among others–could benefit from Atkinson’s motion-laden offense. The 57-year-0ld has been dealt a much better hand than he did in his four seasons in New York. Lastly, I sneakily love nabbing Jaylon Tyson in the 2024 NBA Draft. He’s a very good shot-creator and secondary playmaker who was very efficient in Summer League. I’m also higher on his defensive capabilities in an NBA context; he was tasked with a lot of on-ball creation in college, so I think there’s give-and-take there. All in all, he could be an impactful role player from Day 1. If the Cavaliers get quality internal improvement, this team net a top-4 seed in the East for the second consecutive year. This team was belittled by midseason injuries to Garland and Mobley and still won 48 games with the seventh-best defense and the 12th-best NET Rating. And yet, I still think Atkinson could elevate this team’s floor and ceiling over an 82-game season leading into April and May.