When the Cavs opened the regular season with 15 straight wins, the hoop community’s expectations shot through the roof. Surprisingly, Donovan Mitchell and Co. lived up to them, at least for 82 games and one playoffs series. They finished as East’s top seed, with 64 wins, followed by a dominant first-round sweep against the Heat. Looked like no team could stop them from conquering the East. Until tonight, as their historic season came to a tragic end.

Despite heading into the Pacers series as the heavy favorites, the Cleveland team failed to get the job done. In arguably the biggest playoff upset so far, they got absolutely decimated by Tyrese Haliburton’s squad and were sent packing in just five games. Thus, making it their second straight Conference Semis exit. And former NBA champion turned analyst Kendrick Perkins was clearly not pleased with the Cavs’ disappointing exit.

“A Donovan Mitchell led team has never been to a Conference Finals. I don’t care how you slice it but this Season for the Cavs is a complete failure.” He tweeted, making a harsh assessment of the Cleveland team’s season.

Well, what Big Perk said was not completely inaccurate. Although Mitchell has been a star since he entered the league, he has never made it past the Conference Semis. During his first five years with the Jazz, he got knocked out twice in the second round.

Now, it’s the same situation with the Cavs. While there is no denying Spida’s talent, his constant playoffs failure makes you wonder—is he good enough to carry a team to the championship? That’s what Perkins pointed out with his tweet. However, calling the Cavs’ season a complete failure might be a bit unfair.

Looking back at Cavs’ historic season as Donovan Mitchell makes bold claim after Game 5 loss

Sure, the Cavs could not achieve their goal of winning a championship despite being the best team in the East all year. But that does not mean their season was a “complete failure” as Perkins remarked. In fact, there were a lot of things they can build upon this summer.

First, they clearly made the right call by hiring Kenny Atkinson, who made an immediate impact upon arrival and even earned Coach of the Year for his incredible leadership. Now that he has fully soaked in the Cavs’ culture, he will likely have a better understanding of the team’s strengths and weaknesses for next season.

Moreover, young players like Evan Mobley and Darius Garland took a massive leap to stardom this year. While Garland earned his second All-Star nod, Mobley took home the DPOY trophy. Of course, a major reason the Cavs lost this series was because these two stars were not fully healthy.

Mobley missed Game 2 whereas Darius played just three games that too, with a lingering toe sprain. But once they return to complete strength, they can be the so needed second and third stars alongside Donovan.

Talking of Mitchell, he too was playing through a lingering ankle injury throughout this series. Even tonight, he briefly left the floor in the third quarter, and even after he returned, he could be seen gassed and grimacing in pain.

Despite that, Spida did everything he could to help his team win, scoring 35 points. Unfortunately, his effort was not enough to save the Cavs’ season. However, Mitchell is hopeful about coming back stronger next year, as he boldly claimed, “Y’all gonna write us the f— off man. But we’ll be back. We let the city down, we let each other down but will be back.”

Yes, the superstar guard is highly motivated despite tonight’s loss. Now, the Cavs’ focus will be on building on the positives from this season and assessing where they went wrong so that they can finally get the job done next year. Do you think this season was a failure for the Cavs?