The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the second apron this season with a combined payroll and luxury tax just short of $400 million. The Cavaliers have Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen on expensive contracts while they’ve also filled out their depth with the likes of De’Andre Hunter, Max Strus and Lonzo Ball on significant contracts of their own.
The Boston Celtics were in the second apron when they won the championship in 2024 and stayed there last season before executing their reset out of this past offseason.
“The question will come for us,” Cavs president Koby Altman said. “How do you navigate this collective bargaining agreement and the restrictions that we have? For us, we’ve set ourselves up to have a runway with the guys we have.”
As the Cavaliers anticipated the free agent departure of Ty Jerome, they acquired Ball from the Chicago Bulls for Isaac Okoro.
“We’re not reinventing this thing,” Kenny Atkinson said. “We’ve really created an identity not only on court but how we practice, how we develop, all of it. We’re going to double down on all that. But we do need to make some tweaks to how we play.”