At the All-Star break, the Cleveland Cavaliers stand out as the most successful team in the Eastern Conference so far this season. Cleveland’s record of 44-10 has the team at least 5.5 games ahead of every other squad in the East, and while the Cavaliers aren’t on pace for 70-plus wins anymore, they’re still on track to win roughly 67 contests.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst seemingly sees the Cavs as legitimate threats to make a deep run in the playoffs later this year. According to him, he already has hotel reservations booked in Cleveland for the 2025 NBA Finals. He shared that he currently has reservations in a total of three cities as he tries to prepare for where the championship series will be.
Windhorst sees the Cavs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets as the only four legitimate title contenders “right now.”
“The Finals dates are in stone,” Windhorst said. “You can figure them out. And so the other playoffs, you’re not sure, but the Finals dates, I know when they are. So, when I make hotel reservations during the Finals, it’s like me — ’cause they’re cancellable — but it’s me basically saying I’m taking the time — ’cause it takes a little bit of time — that’s my own personal way of saying, ‘You can make it.’
“I’ve got them in three cities. I’ve got them in Boston. I’ve got them in Cleveland. And I’ve got them in Oklahoma City. And I’m on the verge of looking at Denver.”
Windhorst cautioned that he isn’t “infallible” and mentioned that a year ago, he wouldn’t have had the Dallas Mavericks making the NBA Finals, but he did add that he’s had his Cleveland reservations booked for a little while now.
“I’ve had my hotel rooms booked for the dates in June for the Cavs for a long time now, weeks, if not months,” he said.
Windhorst specified that he likely booked his Cleveland reservations in early January, though he did later say that the Cavs were the third team he booked his reservations for after the Celtics and Thunder.
He made it sound like logistics have to be taken into consideration as well. For example, he said Boston is “always first” because he prefers a specific hotel, explaining that getting hotels in Boston for a reasonable price around the springtime can be tough.
Windhorst noted that plenty of folks have tried to discredit the Cavaliers this season and that the team has drawn comparisons to Atlanta Hawks teams in the 2010s that were successful during the regular season but flamed out in the playoffs. Windhorst cited one factor that separates the current iteration of the Cavaliers from those Hawks teams.
“People have compared this Cavs team to Atlanta Hawks teams in the mid teens that had a bunch of All-Stars and won 60 games,” he said. “People are always looking for reasons to downplay the Cavs and downplay the Thunder. They don’t wanna respect them. And the difference between those Atlanta teams and the Cavs team is that the Cavs team have a superstar.”
Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell has often brought his A-game when competing in the playoffs during his NBA tenure. For his playoff career, he’s averaging 28.1 points per game while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from 3-point range. Additionally, he’s averaging 5.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.3 steals per contest.
Still, Mitchell has yet to lead any NBA team he’s played for past the second round of the playoffs, and Cleveland will have to shake some playoff demons in order to justify Windhorst’s reservations for June.
The last time the Cavaliers earned the right to play for a title came back in 2018. Cleveland was led by none other than legendary forward LeBron James at the time, but the Cavaliers didn’t stand a chance against the Golden State Warriors in that year’s championship series.
Hopefully, the Cavaliers will get over the hump with Mitchell this year and win their second championship in franchise history. Cleveland’s lone title came almost a decade ago now, as the Cavaliers came out on top over the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
