Cavaliers HC uses 'All-Stars' loosely in overly optimistic team outlook

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said on Monday that the team had four All-Stars.

Technically, the team only has three players who have ever made an All-Star team, two of them have made the squad since 2022 and the other one's future with the organization is very much up in the air.

Atkinson was hired as Cleveland's new leader in late June after spending the last three seasons as an assistant on Steve Kerr's bench with the Golden State Warriors.

The move reunited him with center Jarrett Allen, who played three seasons under Atkinson during the latter's days as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Allen was selected by the Nets with the 22nd overall pick in 2017.

He was traded to the Cavaliers in January 2021, 10 months after Atkinson was fired by Brooklyn, and made his only All-Star team during the 2021-22 season. Allen's 2023-24 campaign ended in disappointment, however, as he missed the team's entire conference semifinals series loss to the Boston Celtics with a rib injury .

Furthermore, according to a report by The Athletic, some members of the Cavaliers were frustrated that Allen refused an injection to try and numb the pain in his rib and play.

Point guard Darius Garland is the other Cleveland player with one All-Star honor, which also came in 2022. His 18.0 points, 6.5 assists and 33.4 minutes per game last season were his lowest in three years, while his 44.6 field goal and 37.1 three-point field goal percentages were his worst since his 2019-20 rookie season.

As one of the centerpieces of the franchise, power forward Evan Mobley was presumably the one "All-Star" Atkinson was referring to who hasn't yet earned the accolade. The former third overall pick just finished his third season, and after finishing as the Rookie of the Year runner up in 2022 and third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2023, the big man remained solid, but not elite in 2024.

Mobley ended the 2023-24 campaign with career highs in rebounds (9.4) and assists (3.2) per game, as well as a career-best .580/.373/.719 shooting line. His 1.4 blocks per contest were slightly under his career averages and were a career-low, his 15.7 points per game were a small dip and he averaged a career-low 30.6 minutes across a career-low 50 games.

While Mobley has likely yet to reach his prime, five-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell is perhaps, right in the midst of it at 27 years old.

The Louisville product is still the best player, the leader and finisher of the group, but his future in Cleveland remains murky.

Behind Mitchell, the Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals this spring and have won 99 regular-season games over the past two seasons.

He's been eligible to sign a four-year, $209M max contract extension since the NBA Finals concluded on June 17 but has yet to do so. If no deal gets done, Cleveland could explore a trade for Mitchell.

"Spida" does have a player option for the 2025-26 season but would likely opt out and head to unrestricted free agency without an extension.