The Cleveland Cavaliers did not receive a championship vote in the NBA’s annual survey of general managers, a year after appearing among the league’s title selections.
The 2026-27 results, published Thursday, also placed Cleveland third in the Eastern Conference behind the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers. The Cavs received 7 percent of the first-place votes in the East, down from 63 percent a year ago.
Those results give Cleveland a different backdrop entering the season. Rival executives still see a team near the top of its conference, but their championship choices went elsewhere.
San Antonio received 50 percent of the title vote and Oklahoma City received 43 percent. New York and Philadelphia were the other teams selected.
How the Cavs’ standing changed from last year
The previous NBA GM survey gave Cleveland 7 percent of the championship vote, tied with Denver behind Oklahoma City. The Cavaliers also led the Eastern Conference forecast.
That earlier support makes Thursday’s result more meaningful than an isolated omission. Cleveland had entered the previous season with broad backing to finish first in the East, even though the Thunder were the overwhelming title favorite.
The two questions measure different things. An executive can expect a team to lead its conference without choosing it to win the championship, and a team can remain a plausible contender without being anyone’s single title pick.
| Cleveland’s survey result | 2025-26 | 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| Championship vote share | 7% | 0% |
| First-place votes in East | 63% | 7% |
| Overall Eastern Conference ranking | 1st | 3rd |
The decline in first-place support is 56 percentage points. That comparison describes the change in published voting results; it does not show how any individual executive changed a ballot.
It also should not be translated into a championship probability. A poll asking respondents to select one winner cannot measure every team’s full range of possible outcomes.
What third in the East actually means
The conference ranking combines votes for the first four places, assigning progressively fewer points to each position. It therefore captures more information than the first-place column alone.
That distinction matters when interpreting Cleveland’s result. Losing support as the preferred conference leader is different from being dismissed as a competitive team altogether.
A useful comparison keeps the same measures together: title selections against title selections, first-place conference votes against first-place conference votes and the overall conference order against the previous order.
Mixing those categories would exaggerate what the survey establishes.
The poll also does not provide a written explanation from each voter. It cannot establish whether a particular response reflects concerns about Cleveland, greater confidence in a rival or some combination of the two.
Those are questions for further reporting, not motives that can be assigned to unnamed executives.
Cleveland’s players have expressed a higher ambition
The outside assessment differs from the goal Jarrett Allen described earlier this month. As Cavaliers Nation previously reported, Allen expressed confidence in Cleveland’s ability to lead the conference.
“We have every ability to be the best team in the Eastern Conference,” Allen said.
That was an earlier camp comment, not a response to Thursday’s survey. It establishes the team’s ambition without suggesting Allen has publicly addressed the new results.
There is no requirement that the two assessments agree. Players are describing what they believe their group can achieve; opposing executives are choosing among competing teams before the games establish a new order.
The more consequential question for Cleveland is how to make its confidence visible against strong opposition. A favorable preseason assessment would not resolve that challenge, and an unfavorable one does not prevent the Cavaliers from meeting it.
The playoff backdrop gives Cleveland something to answer
Cleveland’s previous postseason ended in a sweep against New York. Donovan Mitchell defended Kenny Atkinson while taking responsibility for the outcome.
“It’s on us,” Mitchell said. “It’s definitely on us. It’s not on Kenny.”
There was also support for Atkinson from James Harden, who credited the coach with helping him settle into the team. Those comments belong to the aftermath of the playoff loss, rather than the current news cycle.
They provide useful context for what follows. Cleveland’s players had already framed improvement as a responsibility they shared with their coach, well before executives submitted their latest forecasts.
For the Cavaliers, answering that responsibility means producing evidence beyond a statement of confidence. Against a prepared opponent, can they still generate a useful shot when the first action is stopped?
Can a lineup maintain its defensive organization while providing enough offense at the other end? Those are basketball questions a survey cannot answer.
Thursday’s vote supplies a measurable change in expectations. Cleveland’s task is to show that its next season deserves a different conclusion from its last postseason.
