The Cleveland Cavaliers were among the handful of teams routinely linked with Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo even before Cleveland was swept out of the Eastern Conference Finals by the New York Knicks.
Unsurprisingly, it’s believed the Bucks would want Cleveland big man Evan Mobley included in any package that would involve sending Antetokounmpo to the Cavaliers. While speaking with reporters at his end-of-season news conference on Friday, Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman seemed to say plenty about the Mobley-for-Antetokounmpo rumors.
Evan Mobley to remain a “huge part” of the Cavaliers?
“I’m not going to speculate on any players outside these walls,” Altman explained, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “All I can tell you is, since Evan’s been here, we’ve had the third-best record in the league for five years. Now, we don’t have a championship to show for that yet, right? Boston and Denver, the other two ahead of us, they have a championship to show for that, but all Evan has done is impact winning. He’s been remarkable for us in terms of our ascent the last five years. He’s a huge part of what we do.”
Almost immediately after the Cavaliers were swept by the Knicks, it was reported that February acquisition James Harden is expected to opt out of his current contract and receive a new multi-year deal from Cleveland. Additionally, Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell will become extension-eligible during the offseason.
“All I could tell you is Donovan has been steadfast in how much he loves it here,” Altman said. “And so there hasn’t been any question of will he be here and does he want to be here.”
In short, it sounds like Altman is ready to run it back with the trio of Mobley, Mitchell and Harden.
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“I always say two things can be true — we hated the way it ended, we were disappointed with the way it ended. I think the reason for that is we have higher expectations,” Altman added during his comments. “We’ve built this thing to a level of standards of excellence, and we know we could be better. But the other thing that could be true is we could be proud of what we’ve accomplished here and be proud of what we’ve built — a very, very strong foundation. We believe in the culture that we built. We believe in the players that we have in house. We have incredible ownership with great resources that helps us achieve in every aspect of this really difficult game that we’re in.”
Vardon teased that Altman could soon chat with LeBron James if James is truly interested in leaving the Los Angeles Lakers to finish his career with the Cavaliers. James is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and could be viewed as a missing piece for a team that will be coming off its first conference finals appearance since he guided Cleveland to the 2018 NBA Finals.