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The Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to figure out what’s going on after a 126-124 loss to the New York Knicks on Christmas Day.
The Cavs led by 15 points in the first six minutes of the game and held a double-digit lead late in the fourth quarter. However, they still couldn’t score more than the Knicks at the end of 48 minutes.
With the loss, the Cavs are 17-14. Four losses shy of matching last season’s entire loss total. It looks like the Cavs are taking a step back, and the team is beginning to run out of time due to salaries and a lack of leverage.
“The Cavaliers are the only team above the second apron this year, and they’re not even close to that financial threshold, at just over $22 million north of the line,” ESPN contributor Zach Kram wrote.
“That’s not just a point of concern for owner Dan Gilbert, who’s paying top dollar for an underachieving team; it’s also a problem for the on-court product, because it means the Cavaliers have fewer options to improve their roster and get back on track with in-season transactions. They can’t take back more money in a trade than they send out, they can’t aggregate salaries in a trade, and they can’t sign any buyout players whose pre-buyout salary was more than the league average.”
Cavaliers might be approaching dead end
The Cavs have proven every step of the way in the last five years that they are worthy of taking a step forward. This is the first time where they have either plateaued or gone backwards.
It might not be time to smash the panic button quite yet, but with the trade deadline approaching, the Cavs may be a surprise seller. That doesn’t mean Donovan Mitchell or Evan Mobley are going anywhere, but it could be time to look at trading some of the team’s core pieces apart from the main ones like point guard Darius Garland and center Jarrett Allen.
These aren’t easy decisions to make, especially considering the fact that Garland and Allen have been so important to the team’s ascent. However, the Cavs are in new territory, and desperate times call for desperate measures.
Unless the team finds a way to completely turn it around in the next week or two, this could be the beginning of the end of this current era of Cavaliers basketball.