When the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Evan Mobley with the third pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, it extensively changed the trajectory of the franchise.
Sure, the team already had Darius Garland, the fantastic young guard who was quietly transforming into a star just under the eyes of the national media, but adding a player like Mobley, the closest thing the NBA has seen to Chris Bosh since, well, Chris Bosh, elevated the team's profile and ceiling considerably – transforming from a feel-good story to one a legitimate playoff favorite who wouldn't just be competing for the play-in game but could end up in the fourth-sixth seed with ease. Factor in the presence of young role players like Isaac Okoro, who maybe aren't stars but are solid enough, and Cleveland is in a pretty good spot moving forward.
So naturally, when the time came for GM Koby Altman to pick up the contract options on Mobley and Okoro, the decision was relatively easy: yes.
Now locked up until 2025 and 2024, respectively, Mobley and Okoro are now locked into J.B. Bickerstaff's rotation for the next few years, with the potential to earn even longer contact with the team moving forward if they continue to progress along their individual paths. For Mobley, that likely means a max contract, which would mark the third max contract player on the team alongside Garland and recently acquired shooting guard Donovan Mitchell – marking the first time the Cleveland Cavaliers had three such players since the Kyrie Irving-Lebron James-Kevin Love era – and as for Okoro? Well, if he can develop a little bit on offense, there's little reason to believe he couldn't be an eight-figure player.
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