The disaster of the most expensive NBA team in history

When the NBA season began, there were two clear favourites to dominate the Eastern Conference: the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The former took longer than expected to get going, but once they did, they climbed to second place, just won the NBA Cup, and now look like potential finalists on this side of the league. The latter, however, are going from bad to worse. On Wednesday night in Chicago, they lost their seventh game in the last ten, once again delivering a poor performance. The Bulls won comfortably, 127–111, after overturning an 11-point deficit in the first quarter. As has often been the case, Donovan Mitchell was fighting a lone battle with 32 points, an approach that is becoming less and less effective for his team. As soon as the home side woke up, the cracks in that strategy became clear.

Josh Giddey, revitalised in Chicago after his abrupt departure from Oklahoma, recorded his sixth triple-double of the season with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, while also knocking down five three-pointers, a personal best. Seven Bulls players scored in double figures, led by Coby White’s 25 points. Chicago had lost eight of their previous nine games, but this win was convincing. Strong shooting percentages, good ball movement and intensity until the end, even with the game already decided. A Mitchell dunk brought the Cavs within nine points with 8:18 remaining. That was as close as the visitors got, having realised much earlier that the game had passed them by. By the third quarter, their opponent had already built a 15-point lead, which grew to 19 in the final period.

With this victory, the Bulls, who sit in the final play-in spot in tenth place, move to within three games of the ninth-placed Cavaliers, one of the biggest disappointments of the season so far. Let us not forget that this is the most expensive roster in NBA history, with a payroll of $229 million, well above the salary cap. Once the luxury taxes imposed by the league for exceeding that limit are added, the total rises beyond $400 million. From an economic standpoint, being seven wins behind the conference leader is unacceptable. From a sporting perspective, with a team built to win, the results and the level of play seen this season are equally indefensible.

Their loss total now stands at 13, a figure they did not reach last season until 19 March. That year, they posted the second-best regular-season record in franchise history at 64–18 and entered the playoffs as one of the main favourites, only to fall in the conference semi-finals against the Indiana Pacers. The feeling within the organisation at the time was that injuries had prevented them from performing at their best when it mattered most and that, had everyone been healthy in the playoffs, they had the best team in the East. That belief carried into this season, one in which physical problems have again prevented them from proving whether that assessment was correct. No player has appeared in all 28 games they have played so far. Some of those who have missed the most time are key rotation pieces: Darius Garland with 16 games missed, Jarrett Allen with 11, and Max Strus with 19.

The latest to go down injured is Evan Mobley, who is dealing with a left hamstring issue and is expected to miss between two and four weeks. The young big man, named Defensive Player of the Year last season, was Cleveland’s great hope to take a step forward. What has been seen so far, however, is a long way from a dominant Mobley on a par with the league’s elite. That is where the problems begin, because that was where the roster had the greatest margin to make a genuine leap in quality. Garland’s prolonged absence has also been disastrous, as the team plays with far more purpose under his direction, and players like Allen, whose level has dropped significantly compared to last season, look far better alongside him.

But even with all the physical caveats one might want to apply, in a relatively weak Eastern Conference these Cavs cannot be where they are. They need to react, and quickly. First, because if they continue to let wins slip away, finishing near the top of the conference will become increasingly difficult. And second, because the sooner they correct course, the easier it will be to reach the decisive stretch of the season with a team that actually plays like a contender. And that is the only acceptable goal for this group.

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