Knowing Isaac Okoro as we have now for the past three years, we know he’s a man of few words. So, when he spoke the truth on getaway day in Independence after last year’s Playoff ouster at the hands of the Knicks, people paid attention.
It was April 27 – the morning after the Game 5 loss – when Okoro said: “I don’t think you can adjust to physicality. You have to just have toughness. It’s a mental thing, it’s not something you physically have. Yeah, you can be strong. But mentally, you got to want it more. Everybody wanted it. But New York wanted it more.”
The Cavaliers addressed that toughness – and other issues in the offseason – and there’s a chance some of those new additions could cost Okoro his starting spot. In fact, in Tuesday night’s preseason opener in Atlanta, newcomer Max Strus got the starting nod – a trend that could very well extend into the regular season.
“For me, it doesn’t matter who’s here, I’m always going to compete,” said Okoro. “I’m always going to play my role, do what I have to do, whether I’m a starter or coming off the bench. I just want to win games. So, I’ll do whatever my role is to win games. As long as we get further than we got last year – to the Finals, to the Championship. That’s what I care about. If we win, I’m happy.”
Okoro has started over 80 percent of his outings as a Cavalier since being drafted with the 5th overall pick back in 2020 -- including 46 last season. But his first foray off the bench this year was a good one.
On Tuesday night in his hometown of Atlanta, Okoro led both teams – netting 16 of his 19 points in the third quarter as Cleveland outscored the Hawks, 31-20, in the period to get back in the game. Overall, the 6-6, 225-pound swingman went 6-of-8 from the floor, including 2-of-4 from long-range and 5-of-5 from the stripe.
After playing just a single season at Auburn before being drafted in the midst of the COVID pandemic – missing the NCAA Tournament, the NBA Draft in New York and Summer League – Okoro finds himself as both one of the most tenured players on the team while still being one of the squad’s youngest.
“I feel like I have a voice with this team – I was drafted here and I’m going on my fourth year,” smiled Okoro, who’s already compiled 210 games of experience. “It’s crazy: I’m only 22, but it feels like I’m a 30-year-old veteran.”
In his third year, Okoro averaged career lows in minutes and shot attempts – averaging 9.6ppg as a rookie, 8.8ppg as a sophomore and 6.4ppg in 2022-23. At the same time, he shot a career-best .494 from the floor – improving from 42 percent as a freshman and 48 percent last year. He also shot .363 from deep – upping his average from 29 percent to 35 percent over his first and second seasons.
Last year, Okoro was inserted into the starting lineup at the start of a road trip in early January and didn’t come out of it until J.B. Bickerstaff replaced him with Caris LeVert to start Game 3 of the First Round Playoff series at Madison Square Garden. Against New York, his best game of the five-game set was Game 5 – his only outings in double-figures, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-3 from long-range.
“I was definitely down for a good bit (after the Playoffs),” Okoro admitted. “I didn’t talk to a lot of people. I rested my body for a couple days a week at first. But then I got right back in the gym and just got right to work.”
In his third season as a pro, Okoro tallied double-figure scoring in 18 games and went for a season-high 20 points in a one-sided win over the Pacers in early February, going 7-of-9 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from deep.
Okoro – billed as the best perimeter defender in his Draft class – has never disappointed on that end. His tenacity and versatility on that end of the floor is a major reason the Cavaliers were the Association’s stingiest defense one season ago. On most nights, Okoro was assigned the opponent’s top perimeter threat.
Statistically speaking on the defensive end, Okoro led the squad in steals in 18 games this season, in blocked shots on 11 occasions.
And in terms of toughness, Okoro has been one of the team’s true iron men since his arrival in Cleveland – suiting up for 67 games in each of his first two years and playing in each of the first 76 games last year before being sidelined with a left knee injury for the final half-dozen.
Okoro didn’t miss a single shot from the floor in either matchup against Memphis last year, and, of course, might’ve hit the shot of the season – capping a 12-2 run with a bomb from the corner at Barclays Center with 0.7 remaining to give Cleveland the 116-114 win over the Nets in March.
The Cavaliers made some moves in the offseason that will change Okoro’s role moving forward. But his focus is all about the team – and how it can build off of last year’s success moving forward.
“Team-wise, it gets harder, because now we have a target on our backs,” concluded Okoro. “We’re not a team where teams can just lay off and rest their star players against us. They know we’re going to play hard when they come play us. But the path definitely gets harder for us now.”