The Cleveland Cavaliers have become the sixth team in NBA history to win at least 13 straight games to begin a season following their 114-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. Four of the five teams to start 13-0 reached the NBA Finals, but only the 93-94 Houston Rockets won the championship.
There were rumors as last offseason began that the Cavaliers could break up their core of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, but they instead stayed the course and signed three of the four players to extensions.
“We’re just sticking together,” said Garland. “Just taking it game by game. We know we’ve got a target on our back, so we’ve got to come in with that aggressiveness and that confidence that we’re going to win every game, and that’s what we’ve been doing. Even though like I said, long nights, not a lot of sleep, but we’ve got to stay together and just continue just to be great. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
The Cavaliers will have a chance to test themselves on Tuesday against the Boston Celtics when they could be 15-0.
“That’s what you want,” Mitchell said. “At the end of the day, if you want to be the best, you got to beat the best. But in order to be the best, which we’re trying to continue to be, you got to go out there every night. And it’s a mental thing. How great do you want to be? Do you want to be satisfied? We’re hunting, but it’s also November. I keep telling everybody, let’s relax. I’m saying it is November. We’re not winning a championship right now. But these are good tests.
“The fact that we’re 13-0 is great. We could be 9-2. It doesn’t really matter to me. I think the biggest thing is how do we just continue to build the habits through getting every team’s best shot on a night-by-night basis.”
The NBA and TNT Sports’ parent company Warner Bros. Discovery are rumored to be in settlement talks. WBD filed a lawsuit against the NBA after the league moved forward with their new round of media deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon. WBD argued that they had match rights for the Amazon deal.
“I know [both sides] want to solve this,” says one source. “It has to be soon. They don’t want to let it drag on,” adds another source.
While settlements are generally financial, there has been speculation of a fourth rights package being granted to TNT that would allow Inside the NBA to continue. Both companies would like to avoid a lengthy, expensive and potentially embarrassing trial.
The NBA countered that TNT Sports’ attempt to match Amazon’s offer was actually a counteroffer. Amazon is paying an estimated $1.8 billion per year for the NBA’s “C” package. Disney (A package, $2.6 billion per year) and NBCUniversal (B package, $2.45 billion per year) are slated to be the league’s other broadcast partners starting in 2025-26.
The NBA and WBD have upcoming hearings on Nov. 22 and Dec. 17.
USA Basketball released the roster for their upcoming AmeriCup qualifying games. Team USA will feature several NBA veterans for matchups against Puerto Rico and the Bahamas on November 22 and November 25 in Washington D.C.
Longtime NBA forwards Robert Covington and Keita Bates-Diop will join the team. Rounding out an experienced frontcourt is veteran center Frank Kaminsky.
That trio will be joined by several players who are currently playing in the G League. That group includes Henry Ellenson, Dusty Hannahs, Nate Hinton, Jahmi’us Ramsey, Chasson Randle, Javonte Smart, David Stockton, Paul Watson and Malik Williams.
Team USA split games with Cuba in the earlier qualifying window. They’ll play two more away games against Puerto Rico and the Bahamas in February. The top three teams in the group will advance to the AmeriCup tournament in August in Nicaragua.
