Cavs enter offseason facing major questions after East finals collapse

CLEVELAND — For the Cavaliers, the offseason has officially arrived. And with it comes a whole lot of questions.

Fair or not, the first one will probably center on coach Kenny Atkinson and whether he’s back next season. Not far behind is president of basketball operations Koby Altman and the direction of the front office overall.

Those two could absolutely remain in place. In fact, they very well may. But after the way this season ended, scrutiny is inevitable.

And then comes the biggest question of all: Is this roster actually close enough to justify the largest payroll in NBA history?

It certainly didn’t look that way in the Eastern Conference finals.

The New York Knicks steamrolled the Cavaliers in a four-game sweep, punctuated by an ugly 130-93 loss in Game 4 at Rocket Arena that felt more like a road game for Cleveland by the end of the night.

To be fair, the Cavs did technically take a step forward this season. Donovan Mitchell reached the conference finals for the first time in his career, and Cleveland advanced deeper into the postseason than it had in previous years.

But the path there was shakier than expected.

The Cavs were pushed to seven games by both the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons before getting overwhelmed by New York.

This was also a team many viewed as the preseason favorite in the East.

Instead, Cleveland finished fourth in the conference and spent much of the postseason searching for consistency.

Now comes evaluation season.

Everything is on the table, starting perhaps with James Harden and his looming contract decision. The Cavs could decide to mostly run things back while tweaking the edges of the roster.

Or they could think much bigger.

That could include revisiting potential trade talks involving Giannis Antetokounmpo if the Milwaukee Bucks seriously consider moving him.

It could also mean monitoring what LeBron James decides to do in free agency before making any major decisions of their own.

Right now, there are more questions than answers.

But one thing is already certain: The Cavs have fully shifted their focus toward next season.