3 Reasons for Knicks to Both Dread and Dismiss the Cavs This Season

The 2025-26 Knicks were the eighth consecutive new NBA champion. That constancy of change is one reason the Cavaliers might think they could take the crown this season.

Yet while Cleveland’s changes could mean trouble ahead for the Knicks, they might also lead to a similar outcome as these past playoffs.

Reasons for Knicks to worry about Cavaliers in 2026-27

1. Cleveland’s continuity

Champions tend to form from continuity. Over the past four seasons, the Cavs’ top-five in minutes included Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley all four years, Jarrett Allen three times and two for Sam Merrill. If not for last year’s midseason trade to the Clippers, Darius Garland would have joined Mitchell and Allen as four-timers; his workload now falls to James Harden.

Most of New York’s conference rivals are dealing with turnover. Detroit replaced one starter and remains without a second with Jalen Duren still unsigned; Boston traded Jaylen Brown; Philadelphia added Brown and signed LeBron James. Toronto is on the verge of re-acquiring Kawhi Leonard. Indiana has to reincorporate Tyrese Haliburton and figure out fit his next to Ivica Zubac. Orlando has a new coach. Miami has Giannis Antetokounmpo. Everyone’s trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Cleveland has shaken its roster up some, but not to the extent most Eastern powers have. The Knicks reached basketball nirvana last spring thanks in part to their familiarity with each other. With a full year of Harden at the helm, maybe the Cavaliers are due.

2. Cleveland’s needed reinforcements

While the Cavs return most of their rotation, they did make one significant change to their starting five, one they hope is the pebble that triggers a championship landslide.

Look at the other three conference finalists: New York, San Antonio, Oklahoma City. Note the athleticism of OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, even the injured Jalen Williams. The title contenders all possessed legit athleticism. The Cavs really didn’t. Enter Peyton Watson.

The 6-foot-8 Watson brings a mix of size and skill that Merrill, Max Strus and Dean Wade didn’t. Watson, who turns 24 this month and is three inches taller than Merrill and Strus, ranked in the 99th percentile for blocked shots by forwards and the 97th percentile making corner threes, where his 52% accuracy easily bested Wade’s 41%. Watson doesn’t need the ball to contribute, but he’s someone defenses can’t ignore, either.

Two-way talent is the coin of the roundball realm, and adding Watson brings Cleveland closer to the top teams on the list. They’re not the Spurs or the Knicks, but in that regard they’re closer than they were last year.

3. New York's center shift

You might look at the Cavs’ roster and conclude, ironically, that they’re short on size. Although Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley give Cleveland the rare case of two All-Star bigs, neither approaches the “franchise” level of a Karl-Anthony Towns or Victor Wembanyama. After Mobley and Allen, the only other Cavalier as tall as 6-foot-9 is Thomas Bryant. Hardly what dreams are made of.

And yet the Cavs are still deeper in terms of size than the Knicks or the Spurs. New York’s centers are Towns and Andre Drummond; the only other Knicks who reach 6-foot-9 are Mo Diawara and Pacôme Dadiet.

After backup big Luke Kornet went scoreless in the Finals, San Antonio drafted Jaydon Quaintance and Tarris Reed Jr. to power up its pivots behind Wemby. But that’s a lot to ask of two rookies, and with the Knicks trying to patch the Mitchell Robinson-sized hole in their frontcourt, the Cavs have moved up the center situation power rankings simply by staying put.

Reasons why Cavaliers aren't a big concern for Knicks

1. Cleveland’s continuity

You walk into a room, flick a switch and the light goes on. If one day you flick the switch a few times and nothing happens, you don’t whisper a prayer, flick it again and hope for the best. If you did, and someone asked you why and you said “Continuity,” they’d nod slowly, back away and look for help.

Continuity can be a sign of faith, loyalty or love, but it can also be a sign of insanity. Since the 2022-23 season, the Cavs have shown more belief in the Mitchell/Mobley/Allen core than Jerry Reinsdorf did Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

In May, the Knicks absolutely smoked the Cavaliers on both sides of the ball. Has Cleveland done anything this offseason to counter all that sunk their ship?

Mobley shot 29% from deep in the Eastern Conference finals—disappointing, but how much so after he made just 30% in the regular season? Harden made 39% of his shots from the floor and 18% from deep, adding to his legacy of subpar playoffs; since then, he’s turned 37 and the Cavs handed him $97 million to play till he’s 40.

Mitchell’s teams in Utah and Cleveland have been eliminated by Brunson-led sides thrice in five years, so naturally Spida just locked up a long-term new deal. This is the core Cleveland keeps running it back with.

In last year’s conference finals, Brunson made 49% of his shots, OG Anunoby 48%, Towns 54%, Mikal Bridges 57% and Landry Shamet 75%, and literally nothing the Cavaliers have done this summer seems directed at that. Like they’re still waiting for some light to magically turn on.

2. LeBron isn’t walking through that door

Had James made his way back to Ohio for a third tour of duty, the Cavaliers would have the most interesting team in the league. Alas, he's not walking through that door, which makes the Cavs a lot less threatening.

While Watson enjoyed a career year shooting the ball, he didn’t shoot all that often, ranking in just the ninth percentile for attempted three by a wing, as many per 36 minutes as Josh Hart. The Cavs didn’t acquire Watson to be an offensive hub, but going from the higher-volume attempts and halfcourt acumen of Max Strus to someone in Watson who was in the 30th percentile in turnover rate and 11th in assist-to-usage rate is going to be an adjustment.

Can Cleveland, just 6-15 on the road in the playoffs with Mitchell, risk sacrificing wins for the long-term if it costs them homecourt advantage?

3. The success in 2025-26

In 2024-25, the Knicks infamously finished 0-8 against the two best teams in the East, the Celtics and the Cavaliers. Since then, New York is 13-4 against its former bullies. Looking at how last year ended and this offseason went, they may not only be in position to boss the Cavs again in 2026-27, but for a good long while.

Cleveland faces a ton of pressure this year. Anything short of the Finals is a failure, even though nobody thinks they’re the best team in the East and there isn’t a single player on their roster who’s shown any reason to think they’ll be meaningfully better this year than last.

Their core cast is all under contract through at least 2029, but in the second-apron era how likely would a trade turn things around for them anyway? None of their franchise players are actually franchise players, the type who’d bring back a king’s ransom. Harden’s near 40. Mitchell turns 30 next week. They need Mobley to be their best player and he looks more like the third star on a contender.

But the Cavs aren’t delusional about their roster so much as stuck with it. While they were able to get under the second apron this offseason, being over it last year means their 2033 first-round pick is currently frozen, though it’s possible to un-freeze it. Cleveland also doesn’t own their own first for four of the next five drafts; they can’t trade tomorrow to help today. What you see is what you get.

Given the Knicks are 8-1 against the Cavaliers in the playoffs during the Mitchell/Mobley/Allen epoch, that’s looking pretty good come 2027.

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