CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – After being eliminated by the New York Knicks un the opening round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman vowed there would be “no sweeping changes” to the core of the team.
Altman remained true to his word a week into NBA free agency, and he has no plans to break up the team’s core four of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen heading into the upcoming season.
“I never make promises in case something were to miraculously happen, but all four know how important they are to this,” Altman said. “And no conversations have happened outside of teams calling [and] doing their job. No conversations have happened substantial that we envisioned breaking up this core.
“It’s the core that won 51 games last year and really has a lot more runway left, and I hope that's the case. I think we’re going to continue to get better.”
Altman moved swiftly in free agency acquiring forward Max Strus in a three-team sign-and-trade from Miami and then signing free agent forward Georges Niang and guard Ty Jerome.
“I was really excited about our core, our youth, and really having patience with this group,” Altman said. “And now the time is to really compliment those pieces with some shooting, some spacing and I’m really, really happy with our acquisitions and that was being very targeted and intentional to put around our core four, if you will, some really dynamic shooting.
“We talk about Max Strus and Georges Niang and Ty Jerome - those really add to our offense in a dynamic way and we really want to diversify our offense, and so being able to add those additions is huge.”
The Cavs were also able to re-sign reserve guard Caris LeVert, acquired from Indiana in February 2022, for two years and $32 million.
“Caris was the number one off season target for us, to resign him to make sure he was in the fold,” Altman said. “It’s really valuable to have a sixth starter, a guy that can step in and do anything for you at a given notice and I think he’s been a very, very underrated acquisition for us for what he's been able to do and to keep him with this group was really key for us.”
Altman was most dismissive of rumors that Garland could be on the move.
“That was the most crazy rumor you’ve ever heard of in your life,” Altman said. “[We] Drafted him. We’ve raised him to be an all-star. He’s under contract for five more years. He loves it here.”
There are also questions about Mitchell’s long-term commitment to the Cavs amid rumors he’d like to play for the Knicks when his contract expires following the 2024-25 season. Mitchell does have a $37 million player option for 2025-26 which he is not expected to exercise.
“All I can go off of is Donovan’s actions and his intentions,” Altman said. “He’s with us in Vegas right now. He’s super excited about the future. He’s been at in Cleveland multiple times this off season already. He’s worked out with guys. He’s bringing guys with him wherever he is and all you can go off of are those actions and how genuinely or how genuine he talks about his experience in Cleveland.
“And look, he had the best year of his career in year one with us. I think he sees the runway of the players around him and the youth around him. So all I can go off of is his actions and his intentions and they've been all really genuine.”
Although he wouldn’t get into specifics, Altman noted the Mitchell quietly assisted behind the scenes in their free agency process.
“He wants this place to be great. He wants to win here,” Altman said. “And in terms of the contract, we’ll have those internal discussions and hopefully keep him, but listen, we have to produce and perform as an organization, but I know he’s really, really happy here and he’ll tell you that.”
