NBA insider predicts that Cavs will be at least No. 2 seed in East this season

Right now, the Cleveland Cavaliers seem primed to end up with one of the top records in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers have yet to lose a game since the start of the 2024-25 regular season at 11-0, and the team also already has over a five-game lead over the conference’s No. 3 seed, the Indiana Pacers.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps claimed that the red-hot Cavaliers won’t finish the campaign any lower than the No. 2 seed in their conference.

“The Cavs, barring catastrophe, are gonna be a top-two seed in the East,” Bontemps said. “They already got a five-and-a-half game lead on everybody other than Boston. And whether they finish ahead of Boston or not, if they’re a top-two seed in the East you know what that means? That means that Cavs Corner can last for the conference finals without having to face the [Boston] Celtics before then. Though because of that, their entire next 71 games — to [Tim] MacMahon’s point about Donovan Mitchell last year — has to be making sure Donovan Mitchell is as good to go as possible on April 15.

“He shouldn’t play more than 30 minutes a game the rest of the season. You should keep his minutes right there. They should have him on a ramp-up plan to be ready for the playoffs. Now, obviously if they have 17 injuries it’s one thing, but they have a young, durable team. Jarrett Allen’s a pretty durable player. Evan Mobley’s been a durable player. Darius Garland had some wacky injuries last year getting elbowed in the face and stuff, but he’s generally been a pretty durable player. There’s no reason to believe they’re gonna have a crazy set of injuries, and if they don’t, they’re not givin’ up a five-and-a-half game lead. They’re just not, over their field.”

The Cavaliers are one of only two teams in their conference with a record above the .500 mark. The Celtics — the defending NBA champions — are two games behind Cleveland in the standings with a 9-2 record.

Outside of the Cavaliers and Celtics, there aren’t any playoff teams from a season ago that are off to strong starts to the campaign. The Indiana Pacers reached the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals, yet the team’s record stands at 5-5. Plus, the New York Knicks made one of the bigger trades of the offseason when they dealt for Karl-Anthony Towns, but they have lost more games than they’ve won at this point at 4-5.

The Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers (who have been decimated by injuries), Orlando Magic and Miami Heat are all below .500 to boot.

While there have been very few legitimately good teams in the Eastern Conference to start the campaign, the same does not apply to the Western Conference. A whopping 10 teams out West have records above the .500 mark, and the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Oklahoma City Thunder are in a three-way tie for the conference’s top record at 8-2.

The Cavaliers can further solidify their place atop the Eastern Conference standings with a win over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night. Chicago and Cleveland faced off twice during preseason but have yet to meet since the start of the regular season.

All in all, fans of the Cavaliers should feel great about the team’s chances of finishing with a top-two seed in the East, even if there are still more than 70 games remaining on their schedule.