After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Eastern Conference · tip-off October 20

Cleveland Cavaliers

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

49 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 43 to 54 wins.

The market

48.9 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

52-30

2025-26 · net rating +4.0 (9th in the NBA)

Our estimate and the market are within 0.3 wins of each other.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 45 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 48.9 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 49, middle 80%: 43 to 54 Market 48.9

Where we think they finish in the East

Top 6: 85% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 15% Outside the top 10: 0.2%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2095¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
2594¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
3093¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
3589¢ 98¢ 94¢ 100%
4080¢ 91¢ 86¢ 99%
4566¢ 71¢ 69¢ 84%
5043¢ 47¢ 45¢ 44%
5511¢ 23¢ 17¢ 10%
602¢ 11¢ 7¢ 1%
650¢ 6¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 52-30 (8th in wins)

Points per game
119.54th
Allowed per game
115.415th
Offensive rating
117.05th
Defensive rating
112.915th
Net rating
+4.09th

2024-25 · 64-18 (2nd in wins)

Points per game
121.91st
Allowed per game
112.412th
Offensive rating
119.61st
Defensive rating
110.28th
Net rating
+9.42nd

2023-24 · 48-34 (11th in wins)

Points per game
112.620th
Allowed per game
110.27th
Offensive rating
113.417th
Defensive rating
111.06th
Net rating
+2.413th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
+1.704th
Defense
-0.1116th
Net, games only
+1.8210th
Roster value
+3.06

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (3)

  • Peyton Watsonfrom DEN
    29.6 min, 14.6 pts a game
2 moredepth and rookies
  • Ernest Udeh Jr.Rookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Meleek ThomasRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (6)

  • Dean Wadenow with PHI
    22.4 min, 5.8 pts a game
  • De'Andre Hunternow with SAC
    26.2 min, 14.0 pts a game
  • Darius Garlandnow with LAC
    30.4 min, 18.0 pts a game
  • Lonzo Ballnot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    20.8 min, 4.6 pts a game
  • Keon Ellisnow with BKN
    24.9 min, 8.3 pts a game
1 more
  • Dennis Schrodernow with CHA
    21.3 min, 8.2 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

James Harden G · age 37 · 33.2 projected min 2025-26: 70 g, 23.6 pts, 4.8 reb, 8.0 ast

2025-26 · CLE/LAC

70games
34.9min
23.6pts
4.8reb
FG43.4%487/1123
3P37.5%215/573
FT88.4%463/524

8.0 assists a game

2024-25 · LAC

79games
35.3min
22.8pts
5.8reb
FG41.0%531/1295
3P35.2%235/668
FT87.4%505/578

8.7 assists a game

2023-24 · LAC

72games
34.3min
16.6pts
5.1reb
FG42.8%352/822
3P38.1%186/488
FT87.8%302/344

8.5 assists a game

Donovan Mitchell G · age 30 · 33.0 projected min 2025-26: 70 g, 27.9 pts, 4.5 reb, 5.7 ast

2025-26 · CLE

70games
33.4min
27.9pts
4.5reb
FG48.3%678/1403
3P36.4%224/616
FT86.5%372/430

5.7 assists a game

2024-25 · CLE

71games
31.4min
24.0pts
4.5reb
FG44.3%585/1320
3P36.8%233/633
FT82.3%298/362

5.0 assists a game

2023-24 · CLE

55games
35.3min
26.6pts
5.1reb
FG46.2%503/1089
3P36.8%182/494
FT86.5%275/318

6.1 assists a game

Evan Mobley C · age 25 · 29.0 projected min 2025-26: 65 g, 18.2 pts, 9.0 reb, 3.6 ast

2025-26 · CLE

65games
32.0min
18.2pts
9.0reb
FG54.6%469/859
3P29.7%62/209
FT60.6%180/297

3.6 assists a game

2024-25 · CLE

71games
30.6min
18.5pts
9.3reb
FG55.7%505/906
3P37.0%85/230
FT72.5%221/305

3.2 assists a game

2023-24 · CLE

50games
30.6min
15.7pts
9.4reb
FG58.0%320/552
3P37.3%22/59
FT71.9%123/171

3.2 assists a game

Sam Merrill G · age 30 · 28.3 projected min 2025-26: 52 g, 12.8 pts, 2.6 reb, 2.4 ast

2025-26 · CLE

52games
26.5min
12.8pts
2.6reb
FG46.1%223/484
3P42.1%158/375
FT85.5%59/69

2.4 assists a game

2024-25 · CLE

71games
19.8min
7.2pts
2.2reb
FG40.6%172/424
3P37.2%137/368
FT96.6%28/29

1.5 assists a game

2023-24 · CLE

61games
17.5min
8.0pts
2.0reb
FG40.2%158/393
3P40.4%143/354
FT92.9%26/28

1.8 assists a game

Jarrett Allen C · age 28 · 25.9 projected min 2025-26: 56 g, 15.4 pts, 8.5 reb, 1.8 ast

2025-26 · CLE

56games
27.2min
15.4pts
8.5reb
FG63.8%337/528
3P10.0%1/10
FT70.9%185/261

1.8 assists a game

2024-25 · CLE

82games
28.0min
13.5pts
9.7reb
FG70.6%452/640
3P0.0%0/5
FT71.8%199/277

1.9 assists a game

2023-24 · CLE

77games
31.7min
16.5pts
10.5reb
FG63.4%519/819
3P0.0%0/6
FT74.2%233/314

2.7 assists a game

Peyton Watson New here F · age 24 · 25.4 projected min 2025-26: 54 g, 14.6 pts, 4.9 reb, 2.1 ast

2025-26 · DEN

54games
29.6min
14.6pts
4.9reb
FG49.1%285/581
3P41.1%81/197
FT73.0%138/189

2.1 assists a game

2024-25 · DEN

68games
24.4min
8.1pts
3.4reb
FG47.7%204/428
3P35.3%48/136
FT69.3%95/137

1.4 assists a game

2023-24 · DEN

80games
18.6min
6.7pts
3.2reb
FG46.5%208/447
3P29.6%45/152
FT67.0%71/106

1.1 assists a game

Jaylon Tyson G · age 23 · 23.6 projected min 2025-26: 66 g, 13.2 pts, 5.1 reb, 2.2 ast

2025-26 · CLE

66games
27.0min
13.2pts
5.1reb
FG49.3%330/670
3P44.6%133/298
FT73.8%79/107

2.2 assists a game

2024-25 · CLE

47games
9.6min
3.6pts
2.0reb
FG43.0%64/149
3P34.5%20/58
FT79.2%19/24

0.9 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Craig Porter Jr. G · age 26 · 19.9 projected min 2025-26: 64 g, 4.5 pts, 3.4 reb, 3.2 ast

2025-26 · CLE

64games
17.9min
4.5pts
3.4reb
FG45.0%116/258
3P35.5%33/93
FT60.0%24/40

3.2 assists a game

2024-25 · CLE

51games
10.1min
3.7pts
1.3reb
FG51.4%72/140
3P43.8%21/48
FT71.9%23/32

1.4 assists a game

2023-24 · CLE

51games
12.8min
5.6pts
2.1reb
FG50.9%116/228
3P35.3%12/34
FT73.2%41/56

2.3 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.