Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman commented on the recent trade rumors surrounding big man Evan Mobley.
After the Cavs were swept in four games by the New York Knicks in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, there has been plenty of speculation that the team may make a big trade this offseason to shake things up.
One of the potential rumors floating around is that the Cavs could trade for Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, but if they did that, it would cost them their prized young power forward Mobley, plus several other pieces. Still, if the Cavs think that Antetokounmpo is the piece to get them over the hump, would they at least think about it?
Not so fast, says Atlman.
Koby Altman Comments on Evan Mobley Trade Rumors
Speaking to the media at the Cavs’ year-end press conference, Atlman was asked if the team would consider trading Mobley for Antetokounmpo. Here’s what he said.
“We’re not going to speculate on any players outside these walls,” Atlman said.
“All I can tell you is that, since Evan’s been here, we’ve had the third-best record in the league. For five years, the third-best record in the league. Now, we don’t have a championship to show for that yet. Boston and Denver, the other two ahead of us, they have a championship to show for that. But all Evan has done is impacted 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.”
Koby Altman Has High Expectations for Evan Mobley
That being said, while Altman had nothing but good things to say about Mobley, he did say the team wants him to get even better as an NBA player and truly reach his potential.
“He knows he needs to get better. When we sat down and talked to him, we talked about the intangible stuff, not even so the skill set stuff. How are we going to get stronger, right? How are we going to build up your body up so that you are going to be able to sustain? Man, we played him a lot of minutes this postseason,” Atlman said.
The Cavs’ president was also quick to point out the success that Mobley has had when compared to other members of the stacked 2021 NBA Draft.
“So, five years in, 24 years old, we are very fortunate to have drafted Evan Mobley in a spectacular rookie class. You think about that rookie class, right, Cade Cunningham, MVP candidate. Scottie Barnes, who has emerged to be one of the best players in the NBA, we saw that for seven games; that was not fun. Franz Wagner. Evan Mobley. That’s a spectacular class. And out of those guys, who’s the first to the Conference Finals? Evan Mobley. So we have to be proud of that, we have to take pride in that. It’s easy to knock someone down. We’re in the weeds; we can point to this, we can point to that. He’s a franchise-caliber player, and we’re very fortunate to have him,” Atlman said.
Koby Altman Comments on Evan Mobley Trade Rumors