The Cleveland Cavaliers plan on keeping their "core four" of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen together. Allen was the subject of trade rumors in June.
“I intend that to be the case,” Altman said when asked recently during a Zoom call if those four players will remain together going into the 2023-24 season. “I never make promises in case something were to miraculously happen, but all four know how important they are to this, and no conversations have happened. Outside of teams calling doing their job, no conversations have happened substantial that we envision breaking up this core. It’s a core that won 51 games last year and really has a lot more runway left. I think we’re going to continue to get better.”
There were also rumors of a potential Garland trade.
“That was the most crazy rumor you’ve ever heard of in your life,” Altman said. “We’ve drafted him. We raised him to be an All-Star. He’s under contract for five more years. He loves it here.”
The Cavaliers retooled their roster by signing Max Strus and Georges Niang, which allows them to feel better about keeping their core unchanged.
“Do I feel good about Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen? Absolutely,” Altman said. “We have all-world defensive players in our frontcourt. Can we add to that? Absolutely. I think we’re looking at that as well. But to start there, we’re the No. 1 defense in the league because of those two. I think we’re in a good spot.”