After back-to-back losses to a depleted Oklahoma City Thunder team, the Cleveland Cavaliers have started the season with a disappointing 4-4 record.
Evan Mobley Hasn’t Played Like a Superstar
During a discussion about the Cavs on Friday’s episode of “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said the buck stops with Evan Mobley above all else.
“But also I would say on the grand scale, Evan Mobley has been good. He’s averaging 18 points, eight rebounds, shooting a good percentage, shooting threes, making defensive plays,” Windhorst said.
“They need Evan Mobley to be great and Evan Mobley has not been great. He has been good. He has a supermax contract and that as much as anything, as much as their wing depth, as much as whatever else with their team, they need Evan Mobley to be great and Evan Mobley has just been good.”
The Cavaliers Roster Construction
Mobley signed a five-year, $269.09 million rookie-scale contract extension with Cleveland in July of 2024. This season, the former Defensive Player of the Year is making just over $50.1 million, accounting for 30.4% of the Cavaliers’ salary cap.
Donovan Mitchell is making the same amount in the final year of his current contract before the four-year, $276 million maximum contract extension he signed this summer takes effect next season. He is projected to make approximately 35% of the salary cap. James Harden, now 37, signed a three-year, $96.54 million contract extension a couple months ago, accounting for roughly 18% of the cap over the next couple of seasons.
Add in Jarrett Allen’s 17% of the cap and Peyton Watson’s 12.4%, and that brings the total to 108.8% of the cap tied up in five players. All contract details are courtesy of Spotrac.
In today’s NBA, depth has become more important than ever. Players are frequently getting injured, the style of play is faster and teams need more bodies than ever before. You can’t rely on just a few players to carry you through an 82-game season. It takes a complete roster, from the first guy all the way down to the 15th.
If you have multiple max-contract players taking up 30% or more of the salary cap, those guys have to produce at a superstar level. As Windhorst points out, Mobley simply hasn’t done that.
The 25-year-old is entering his fifth season and the prime of his career, and the Cavaliers need him to take the next step. That hasn’t quite happened so far. The one-time All-Star has never averaged at least 19 points per game in a season and has left something to be desired in each of Cleveland’s last four playoff appearances.
In the 2024-25 season, when he won Defensive Player of the Year and made the All-Star team, the Cavs were eliminated in the second round by the Indiana Pacers, losing the series 4-1. His impact simply hasn’t been felt when it matters most.
At this point in his career, people are beginning to wonder whether Mobley has reached his ceiling. If that’s the case, it’s difficult to envision the Cavaliers getting over the hump to make a run to the NBA Finals.
Brian Windhorst Delivers Blunt Message About Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley