Koby Altman is the architect of a Cleveland Cavaliers team that won 64 games a year ago and will enter next season as a favorite to win the East.
That has earned him a contract extension that will keep him with the Cavaliers through the summer of 2030, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. This new extension adds two years to Altman’s contract, based on reporting from the last time Altman signed an extension in 2022. Charania added that the team gave “general manager Mike Gansey and assistant general manager Brandon Weems, multiyear extensions.”
Altman took over the Cavaliers in 2017, just ahead of LeBron James bolting for Los Angeles in 2018. He rebuilt this team through the draft (Darius Garland, Evan Mobley) as well as trades for players such as Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen. That team won 64 games last season and has won at least 48 each of the previous three seasons.
This season, the Cavaliers enter as favorites to win the East, but with plenty of doubters about their ability to make a deep playoff run after a second-round exit last season (Garland’s turf toe turning him into a shell of himself had a lot to do with that). The Cavaliers have added Lonzo Ball as a backup guard and brought Larry Nance Jr. home.
Altman’s Cavaliers are entering the luxury tax this season after years of avoiding it — the team is currently about $19 million above the second apron. That’s not a place the franchise can stay long term, but for a year to make a title run in a down East, owner Dan Gilbert appears ready to foot the bill.