The Cleveland Cavaliers have been breaking barriers this season and even cleared the number one seed in the East. Despite having a fairly younger and inexperienced team, the Cavs have a legit chance to go all the way to 60 wins or even reach the Finals. However, did you know we’ve already seen a 60-win team ten years ago that have overachieved in the regular season, but unfortunately couldn’t come out of the Eastern Conference? The 2025 Cavaliers somehow look like the 2015 Hawks. Here’s why.
Four All-Stars On the Team
In 2015, the Atlanta Hawks was the latest team to have four players selected for the All-Star game in the same season—Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, and Al Horford.
This season, we’re seeing a replica of that same feat with the Cleveland Cavaliers core—Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. Although Allen did not make the final cut, the 7-footer cracked the top 10 in voting as an East frontcourt reserve. But, each one of these guys has the bragging rights to be selected for the All-Star game.
A Fantastic Regular Season
Ten years ago, an Atlanta Hawks team led by Al Horford had a very remarkable season. They won 60 games in the 2014-2015 season, which is actually a franchise best. The Hawks, at the time, surprised everyone after they got the top seed in the Eastern Conference which still featured a prime LeBron James who had just returned to Cleveland, a healthy Derrick Rose in Chicago, and the contending Toronto Raptors.
However, despite their dominance in the regular season, that Hawks squad would only be remembered as an overachieving team that would eventually be swept by LeBron’s Cavaliers in the East Finals. As good as they were as an offensive unit, the 2015 Atlanta Hawks stood no chance against the King and Kyrie.
Is it a coincidence that the same franchise that destroyed Atlanta that year would be the same team that would be running through the same success ten years in the future? Pretty ironic.
All Things Considered, the 2025 Cavaliers Are Still Way Better Than the 2015 Hawks
In hindsight, the Cleveland Cavaliers we are seeing this season is miles more talented than the 2015 Hawks.
- No disrespect to Jeff Teague, but Darius Garland is a much better facilitator and overall player.
- Evan Mobley is arguably a better all-around presence than Paul Millsap, but some would say that the latter had an edge on offense given that he’s a deadly post-up player.
- Jarrett Allen is a solid center and isn’t relatively worse compared to Al Horford.
Then, there’s Donovan Mitchell, the guy that the Cavs needed all these years after LeBron left in 2018. Obviously, he’s ten times the player Kyle Korver ever was. In eight seasons in the league, Mitchell has already solidified himself as one of the best scorers in the game and as a superstar.
The 2015 Hawks and the 2025 Cavaliers look like uncanny parallels ten years apart, but it’s already safe to say that the Mitchell-led Cavs is a hundred percent better. However, just like Atlanta, Cleveland is also on the verge of cracking 60 or maybe 65 wins, but would still be battered in the playoffs through a better team (i.e. the Boston Celtics). Can this revamped Cavaliers team beat the Celtics in a seven-game series or will they suffer the same fate as the 2015 Hawks?
Also, would it be very ironic if the Trae Young-led Hawks right now, as the eighth seed, would upset Mitchell and the Cavs? Now that’s something.
