Koby Altman: ‘There’s a mental toughness piece we need to overcome’

The Cleveland Cavaliers were dominant enough during the 2024-25 regular season that they were seen as championship threats by the time the playoffs arrived, but in the postseason, the squad only made it to the second round before bowing out.

Now, fans are wondering how the franchise can ensure that more progress will be made in the coming years. According to team president Koby Altman, one piece of the puzzle has to do with “mental toughness.”

The Cavs caught some heat during the postseason when some of their key players missed games with injuries. Key pieces Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and De’Andre Hunter each missed at least one game in the second round, and some folks felt like those guys should’ve found a way to be on the floor.

The truth is that very few people know the exact extent of the injuries those players were dealing with, and all of them ended up finding a way to return sooner or later in the second round. But unfortunately, their efforts weren’t enough for the Cavs to erase what had quickly become a big series deficit against the Indiana Pacers.

For some fans, the idea that some Cavs players were too hurt to play has been tough to grasp, especially after someone like Denver Nuggets veteran Aaron Gordon found a way to play through injury in his team’s recent Game 7. But again, every case is different.

Altman could also be referencing something else with his “mental toughness” quote. For example, he may believe that Cleveland needs to be more aggressive on the floor (which has a lot to do with mindset), or he may believe that a team as good as the Cavs should’ve had enough mental toughness to pull itself out of the 0-2 and 1-3 holes it faced in the second round.

But in the end, the Cavs ran into a bad matchup in the Pacers and simply weren’t healthy, and although there is room to point fingers about what exactly went wrong, all the team can do now is try to fix its issues before next season.