Cleveland Cavaliers 2022-2023 NBA season preview and predictions
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Cavaliers are ready for the 2022-2023 NBA season
The Cleveland Cavaliers are done preparing and are ready to take on the 2022-2023 season in earnest. The Cavs are a team with a lot of hope and hype, coming off a major offseason. It was an offseason that was only matched and surpassed once, and that was in 2014 when LeBron James returned to the city.
Outside of that, this team has never had an offseason like this one. The Cavs came off a huge 2021-2022 season, which saw them go into the play-in round of the playoffs but lost. That was largely due to injuries, which held the team back. The Cavs were the top seed in the East for a while, but injuries slowed them down. The team finished with a 44-38 record, the first winning record the Cavs have had without LeBron James since 1998.
The Cavs built this team slowly and over the course of several seasons, getting Darius Garland in 2019, Jarrett Allen in 2020, and Evan Mobley in 2021. Yet, it was the offseason of 2022 that sealed the deal for the hope that the city has. Even though he was already on the team once before, the team re-acquired Ricky Rubio, getting fans hyped for the year ahead.
Rubio, who’s nursing a knee injury he sustained last season, was traded to the Pacers for Caris LeVert, but he hit free agency and the Cavs snatched him back up. That alone was a win, as Rubio was a key piece for this team. The Cavs didn’t rest on their laurels, however, and went out and got the belle of the ball, Donovan Mitchell, the No. 1 asset this offseason.