LeBron James is defending his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he’s also issuing a stark warning about the immense pressure they face heading into the new season.
Speaking on his “Mind the Game” podcast, the man who brought Cleveland its only NBA title believes the Cavs are their own harshest critics after two consecutive years of playoff disappointment.
“I think it’s pressure from within,” James said of the Cavaliers, who finished with the best record in the East last season before being eliminated in the second round.
“I feel like if I was someone from the outside looking in, I feel like they’re putting pressure on themselves to make the next jump… They’re probably looking at, you know, ‘It could have been us versus OKC in the Finals.'”
The internal and external pressure the Cavs face
The pressure has been building since 2022, when Cleveland went all-in, trading for Donovan Mitchell to create a formidable All-Star core with Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley.
Despite their regular-season success, the team has yet to break through in the playoffs, a fact that weighs heavily on the organization.
While James acknowledges the pressure is largely internal, he didn’t mince words about the external expectations, declaring, “I think they’re under the most pressure of any team coming into the season.”
Even as he points out the pressure, the Los Angeles Lakers star was quick to praise the team’s style of play. “They play a great style of basketball,” James admitted. “That ball is popping, it’s moving, they’re getting dribble drives… They shoot it well, they pass well.”
Cleveland is facing its best opportunity in years
The stakes are incredibly high. With the Eastern Conference considered wide open and only the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic seen as true rivals, this season is a prime opportunity for the Cavs to finally reach the Finals.
If they get off to a slow start or suffer another early playoff exit, calls to blow up the roster will be deafening, and it will be a tough mark to erase from Mitchell’s legacy as a winning player.
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