Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson revealed that he’s drawn parallels between San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama and Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley when it comes to how he can use Mobley in the 2024-25 season.
Atkinson coached Wembanyama in the Olympics, as he was an assistant on the coaching staff for France.
#Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said he's mentally drawn parallels to Victor Wembanyama after coaching him in the Olympics to how he can utilize Evan Mobley in Cleveland.
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) September 27, 2024
The Cavs are certainly hoping that Atkinson can unlock Mobley’s offensive game, as the former No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft hasn’t taken a major leap on that end of the floor since his first NBA season.
After averaging 15.0 points per game as a rookie, Mobley averaged 16.2 points per game in his second season and 15.7 points per game last season. He took his fewest field goal attempts per game (11.0) in his third NBA season.
The Cavs added All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell to their roster after Mobley’s rookie season, and he’s taken a major role in the offense that may have stunted some of Mobley’s development.
However, Mitchell has also led the Cavs to back-to-back playoff appearances, so it may now be up to Mobley to command a bigger role to help the Cavs make the next step as a contender in the Eastern Conference.
Last season, Mobley did show some progression as a 3-point shooter, hitting 37.3 percent of his attempts (a career-high), but he did that on just 1.2 attempts per game.
The biggest sign of Mobley being ready for a bigger offensive workload may have come in the playoffs. In the second round against the Boston Celtics, Jarrett Allen did not play and Mitchell missed multiple games due to injury.
Despite the Cavs losing that series in five games, Mobley made a major impact. In the five games against Boston, Mobley averaged 21.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.0 block per game while shooting 62.7 percent from the field.
He also scored a playoff career-high 33 points in Game 5 against Boston.
Wembanyama, who won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award last season, is one of the rising stars in the NBA and helped lead France to the gold medal game against Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Hopefully, Atkinson can help turn Mobley into a rising star on the offensive end of the floor after getting to work with Wembanyama this summer.
