According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, people inside the Cleveland Cavaliers organization have been saying that Evan Mobley needs to be the best player instead of Donovan Mitchell for the team to win a championship.
“Koby Altman was talking about we need Evan to be our best player,” Fedor said. “And look, people inside this organization have been saying that for two years now that if they’re going to hang another championship banner, it’s not because of Darius Garland, it’s not because of Donovan Mitchell. It’s because Evan is the one that helps them do that.”
During his end-of-the-season press conference, Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman said Mobley needs to do more for the team in the playoffs.
Mobley won the Defensive Player of the Year Award and made his first All-Star team this season.
“We’re going to go as a franchise as Evan is going to go,” Altman said. “And we’ve had that conversation with Evan. In the playoffs, we need more. We need more than 13 field goal attempts per game — that’s new for Evan. There’s another jump.
“And so to that point, Kenny’s going to be able to implement his offseason program, which we’re very excited about. And we’re going to see some internal growth there, and we think we have one of the best big men in the game in Evan Mobley.”
Mobley averaged 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.6 blocks for the Cavaliers this season.
The USC product then put up 17.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks per game in the 2025 playoffs in eight games against the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. He missed Game 2 of the Pacers series.
Mobley turns 24 this summer. By winning Defensive Player of the Year this season, Mobley triggered a clause in his contract that calls for him to increase the first-year salary of his rookie-scale extension from 25% to 30% of the salary cap.
Mobley signed a five-year, $224 million extension with Cleveland last summer.
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