NBA scout hits Cavs, Evan Mobley with reality check: ‘He’s not there yet’

If folks said ahead of the season that the Toronto Raptors would have a better record than the Cleveland Cavaliers around one month into the 2025-26 campaign, they probably would have been met with a lot of skepticism.

But that’s the current reality, as the Cavaliers have had an uneven start to the campaign and boast a record of just 10-6. That record isn’t bad by any means, but to put it into perspective, they were 15-1 through as many games played last season. An NBA scout from the Western Conference spoke on the Cavs and explained that they probably aren’t better than they were last season, with big man Evan Mobley’s name popping up along the way.

“They’re not great right now, but they’re down at least two starters,” the scout said, per ESPN. “Lonzo [Ball] hasn’t been great.

“Are they better [than last year]? Probably not. They’ve always needed Evan to get even better, and he’s not there yet.”

The scout was referring to the fact that guard Darius Garland, forward Max Strus and guard Sam Merrill have all missed time when talking about the Cavs being down “at least two starters.” Garland is set to return to action on Friday, but the revolving door of injuries keeps turning with fellow starter Jarrett Allen ruled out for the contest.

Still, the Cavaliers are a talented squad even when they’re missing some key players, and a lot of people expected them to do a better job of stacking up wins to open the season while short-handed.

There has long been a belief that in order for the Cavaliers to win a title with their “core four,” Mobley will need to take that next step, but he hasn’t shown significant improvement so far in his fifth NBA season.

His numbers look very similar across the board compared to last season, with the exception being the accuracy with which he’s scoring the ball, which hasn’t been all that great. Mobley is converting a career-low 47.2 percent of his shots from the floor, including just 34.8 percent of his 3s. He has also struggled significantly at the charity stripe to the tune of a 60.4 percent shooting clip.

Things haven’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the Cavs this season, but assuming Mobley regains his rhythm as a scorer and the rest of the team gets healthy, they could turn things around in a major way sooner rather than later.