HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Lionel Messi hoisting the MLS Cup won’t be the lasting image soccer fans in the United States will see at the end of the 2024 season.

The MLS Cup Playoffs will continue this month without Inter Miami and the Argentine World Cup champion after they were bounced from the first round by Atlanta United last week in historic fashion.

Messi’s presence in the postseason will be missed by fans, the league and its corporate partners. But Inter Miami’s elimination does set the tone for 2025 and possibly the World Cup hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026.

Will there be any Messi fatigue in the next year or two? FOX soccer analyst and former USMNT standout Alexi Lalas laughs at the notion.

“I think if and when watching Messi becomes blasé, or anybody becomes blasé about it, something is wrong. You need to get your heart checked. You need to get your eyes checked,” Lalas told USA TODAY Sports at this week’s Soccerex conference at the Seminole Hard Rock and Casino Hollywood. “Having said that, the value to Messi, while we can certainly look at it in the context of present day and what’s happening now, I think that there is a long-term benefit.”

Lalas praised Messi and Inter Miami for all they’ve done since his arrival in July 2023.

Messi has the No. 1 selling jersey for MLS and globally with adidas, helping Inter Miami become known as the “pink team in the U.S.” and a global brand that has provided exposure to the league. It’s a similar resonance to when David Beckham, the Inter Miami co-owner, first joined L.A. Galaxy in MLS in 2007, Lalas said.  

“I think the marketing and branding and the aesthetic of this team has been incredible. And then you associate it with arguably the greatest player ever to play the game. Now you’re cooking,” Lalas said of Messi and Inter Miami.  

“And so, yeah, they didn’t win MLS Cup. But the fact is that this brand is now global and international and worldwide. And that is something that teams around the world, even in the greatest league in the world, aspire to. And that an MLS team has been able to do that, it shows you the power of Messi. It also shows you the long-term business strategy of what they’re doing and the value of it.”

Still, there’s enough criticism since Messi’s MLS postseason ended prematurely after Inter Miami set the MLS points record (74).

The club was ousted by No. 9-seed Atlanta United last Saturday in a best-of-three series. Atlanta United outscored Inter Miami 5-2 in the final two games, beating Messi’s side 6-5 in the series.

Messi only scored once with an assist in the first three postseason games of his MLS career despite being a favorite for league MVP.

“Let’s be honest, it’s not Inter Miami going out, it’s Messi going out, right?” Lalas said.

“Messi would be the first person to tell you that he understood what he was getting into, as would [Inter Miami coach] Tata Martino. To their credit, I think they both acknowledged that in MLS, it’s about winning MLS Cup. And with the amount of attention, with the amount of talent, with the amount of money that has been spent from Inter Miami, they have to look at this as a failure.”

The playoffs will continue with L.A. Galaxy and LAFC as the top two seeds in the Western Conference and favorites to win the Cup, while the East will be decided by No. 4 Orlando City, No. 6 New York City FC, No. 7 New York Red Bulls and Atlanta.

Having both clubs from New York and Los Angeles in the conference semifinals is a major victory for the league, Lalas said.

But Messi’s elimination surely sets the stage for 2025, which will be his last season under contract with Inter Miami before a possible extension is discussed for 2026.

Messi playing with Argentina again in the next World Cup is what his adoring fans, and soccer fans around the world want to see – especially since he’s in the twilight of his storied career. He’ll be 39 when the tournament begins in June 2026.

“Look, Messi, despite his anti-superhero personality. There is still drama that follows him, and he creates it because of the things that he does on the field, and more often than not, living up to all of the expectations. That can’t be easy. But with that drama, we talk about what could potentially happen,” Lalas said.

“Whether it’s now the narrative and the story of him putting it right after what happened this year and possibly winning an MLS Cup next year. Then obviously, the overarching one is not just defending a world championship in the summer of ’26, but doing it now as Messi, the American, if you will.

“And in his backyard, whether it’s Miami, obviously the United States, which is where not only is he playing, but where he is fundamentally changing the way we view soccer, and certainly when it comes to relevance and credibility from around the world, and even internally in the United States.”

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They’ve hit a unique inflection point at Florida State with coach Mike Norvell, one that perfectly and terrifyingly explains the transactional state of college football.  

Can’t afford to fire him, can’t can’t afford to keep him.

“We can’t get caught up in what happened yesterday,” Norvell said last week. “Other than to learn from it.”

Welcome, everyone, to the excruciating financial reality of choices have consequences. 

They’re feeling it at Florida State and Florida. At Auburn and Oklahoma, and Wisconsin and Southern California. And even Michigan, less than a year after winning the national title. 

Bloated, guaranteed coaching contracts don’t translate to success. 

Nowhere is this undeniable truth more prevalent than at Florida State — because of its unique connection to the new era of player procurement. 

The highs of hitting it big in the transfer portal, and the ugly lows when swinging and missing.

This time last season, Florida State was polishing off a 19-game winning streak, and would become the focal point of the sport after missing out on the College Football Playoff.

Then Nick Saban retired at Alabama, and Norvell may or may not have been an Alabama candidate. So Florida State did what just about any university in the same situation would do: it threw a boatload of long-term, guaranteed cash at Norvell to convince him to stay. 

Now that cash – an estimated $64 million in buyout money – is an anvil around the neck of the program. Because the coach who had the transfer portal figured out, who embraced the new shortcut to winning like no other and had high-level success doing so, has failed miserably a year later. 

And by miserable, I mean the worst season for the Seminoles since 1974. In fact, only two in school history have been worse.

It’s not often we get to see both the spoils and ills of the transfer portal play out in front of us, a train wreck we vicariously can’t turn from. It’s an unmistakable teaching moment for all involved.

It wasn’t so long ago that Norvell had FSU officials convinced talent was fungible and readily available in the transfer portal. That building a program organically through high school recruiting and development of players through program experience was overrated.

Now here we are: the Seminoles have lost 9 of 10 games this season (and should’ve lost the game it won), and Norvell last weekend fired his offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and wide receivers coach.

UP AND DOWN: Army, Georgia lead CFP ranking winners and losers

He says everything and everyone will be evaluated, and nothing will go unchecked in finding FSU’s way back. Here’s a start: evaluate the evaluators.

At some point at the end of the 2023 regular season, with the Seminoles sitting at 13-0 and full of momentum, the decision was made to sign nomadic quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei.

Of all the quarterbacks in the portal, of all the potential options to limit the falloff from electric star Jordan Travis, Norvell chose Uiagalelei and made the worst possible decision at the worst possible time. He needed game-changer, and signed a game manager.

But it wasn’t just the most important position on the field.

Norvell mistakenly bought into his own magic, knowing full well that a majority of the players in the transfer portal are the unloved and unwanted — or those looking for a one-year payday before heading the NFL. 

There are only so many players like Braden Fiske and Keon Coleman, and Tatum Bethune and Jared Verse. At some point, you’re going to run into DJ Uiagalelei and Malik Benson, and Richie Leonard and Marvin Jones Jr. 

At some point, a head coach and a staff begin to believe they can change and develop any player, and the administration at those schools believe the same. That echo chamber then drowns out the inherent risk of building through the portal. 

And the next thing you know, you’re burning through coaching contracts to make it work. Florida State owes $8.5 million on the contracts of offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and wide receivers coach Ron Dugans.

But it’s cheaper to fire three assistant coaches than admit a mistake and lay out $64 million for the head coach.

Think about what has transpired at Florida State since Travis broke his leg and dislocated his ankle a year ago this week. 

⬣ A 19-game winning streak was snapped, and the Seminoles became the first unbeaten Power Five conference champion to not make the CFP field.

⬣ Lost by 60 to Georgia in the Orange Bowl with a roster depleted by opt outs.  

⬣ Norvell’s contract was extended to $10 million annually through 2031. 

⬣ Lost 10 of 11 games by an average of 23 points per game.

⬣ Fired its offensive and defensive coordinators after a 49-point loss at Notre Dame.

⬣ Wildly misjudged the Big Ten’s interest.

Everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong in every imaginable way — despite the red flag popping in the wind of change.  

Someone at FSU should’ve watched the Orange Bowl with a critical eye, instead of a bitter gaze. A majority of the opt-outs for the Seminoles were successful transfer portal players.

Translation: the team that sustained the worst bowl loss in school history was the foundation for 2024, with the exception of a freshman recruiting class and more heavy (and risky) lifting in the transfer portal.

Hit in the portal, continue the climb. Lose in the portal, prepare for the disaster. 

The teaching moment has arrived. Who will listen?

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

Once a gold standard for college athletics success, Florida’s front porch became an eyesore. The woes go beyond Billy Napier. Who’s going to fix this?
Florida’s retention of Billy Napier speaks more to the Gators’ lack of leadership than to any sign of football momentum.
Title IX complaint of basketball coach Todd Golden latest saga for Florida athletic department that’s in retreat.

College Sports Inc.’s muckety-mucks proclaim that athletics serve as a university’s front porch. Sports teams are the front-facing image of the school itself.

And although Gen Z probably can’t recall it, the rest of us remember the Florida Gators once boasted the spiffiest front porch of any of the fine houses on Main Street.

Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan sat on that proverbial front porch, gator-chomping with their national championship rings gleaming in the Florida sunshine. The Gators’ Olympic sports became a juggernaut.

Kids, you should have seen it.

Then Meyer left. Florida football has never been the same. Foley’s subsequent hires failed to live up to Urb.

Then Donovan left, and Florida basketball tapered off.

Foley retired in 2016, replaced by Scott Stricklin.

Florida gradually receded.

Gators Olympic sports still deliver successes, but the pillars of Florida’s porch buckled, and though the house might still possess good bones, the decaying porch makes the whole place look shabby.

Florida can’t hire a new university president quickly enough. Kent Fuchs has served as Florida’s interim president since the summer. He’s a seat-warmer. A new president is on tap for 2025.

Agenda Item A for Florida’s next president ought to be putting the whole of Florida athletics under the microscope and determining how to repair this front porch to a state of pride.

Next Florida president must chart new course for Gators

Florida opted last week to continue with doomed football coach Billy Napier. Days later, Napier’s Gators trailed Texas by 42 points in a blowout loss.

Florida football is, in a word, lost.

The decision to retain Napier reflected the university’s weak leadership rather than serving as a ringing endorsement for a third-year coach who is 15-19.

The Gators have never been so good as they were under Meyer and Steve Spurrier before him. They’ve also never been this bad for this long. If Florida loses two of its final three games, the Gators will notch four straight losing seasons for the first time since before World War II.

The Gators played Texas without their top two quarterbacks, but quarterbacks don’t play defense, and Florida’s defense looked infirm.

The program displays no momentum. Napier’s recruiting efforts languish. The Gators currently rank 43rd in 247Sports Composite team rankings for the 2025 class, immediately behind rival FSU. Among SEC peers, their class ranks ahead of only Vanderbilt.

Freshman quarterback DJ Lagway showed upside before an injury sidelined him. Surely, Napier isn’t the only coach for whom Lagway would play.

Imagine what Lagway could do playing for an offensive visionary who installed a better supporting cast.

I view Napier as an interim coach at this point. Like Fuchs, Napier keeps a seat warm until a new president determines what to do with Stricklin and then moves on to addressing Napier.

Foley used to say that what must be done eventually should be done immediately. That frequently recited quote sounds pithy, but situations differ.

Anyone believing Napier will turn the Gators around during the next 12 months should be inducted into the Sycophant Hall of Fame, but that doesn’t make this the optimal moment to replace Napier.

Whom could Florida trust right now to hire Napier’s replacement? Stricklin is 0-for-2 on football hires. He hasn’t earned a third swing.

Anyway, what successful coach would jump at the Florida job without knowing who his bosses will be?

Specifically, why would Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin or Indiana’s Curt Cignetti – two hot coaches Florida fans pine for – want anything to do with Florida right now?

A new president cometh, and Stricklin quacks like a lame duck.

Re-evaluate this from a place of stronger leadership.

Oh, but Florida’s mess doesn’t end with football.

Todd Golden saga hits Florida with another black eye

A day after Florida announced its decision to keep Napier, another shoe dropped.

The Gainesville Sun, part of the USA TODAY Network, and other media outlets reported last week that basketball coach Todd Golden is the subject of a Title IX investigation.

The Title IX complaint includes allegations of sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, stalking and cyberstalking of multiple Florida students. Amid the disturbing allegations, Golden is accused of requesting sexual favors and sending photos of his genitalia while traveling for his duties as Florida’s coach.

Florida’s student newspaper, The Alligator, broke the story and interviewed two women, former students, who provided details of harassment. The student newspaper did not identify the women and granted them anonymity.

Golden, who has not explicitly denied the allegations publicly, wrote in a statement that he retained a lawyer as he weighs a possible defamation lawsuit.

I’ll reiterate: What a mess.

Florida must take these allegations against Golden seriously and determine with a thorough review whether he did these things he’s accused of doing.

In the meantime, why is Golden still coaching?

Florida did not suspend Golden. He coached Florida’s game Monday against Grambling State.

Golden’s contract includes morals, ethics and integrity clauses, and it prohibits conduct that would adversely affect the university’s reputation. The university gave itself broad leeway within the contract to suspend Golden, even before an investigation concludes.

Suspending Golden wouldn’t acknowledge wrongdoing, but it would show Florida takes its reputation seriously enough that it doesn’t want a coach facing such significant allegations standing on the university’s porch until a thorough review determines what went down here.

Florida coaches keep finding themselves in ugly entanglements.

Stricklin admitted in 2021 to failing to swiftly fix a toxic environment of verbal abuse that occurred within the women’s basketball program under coach Cam Newbauer, who resigned. Less than a year later, Florida fired women’s soccer coach Tony Amato after concerns about his approach to fitness, eating, weight and issues of body image.

Now, another saga.

Oh, I almost forgot: Former Florida football recruit Jaden Rashada alleged Napier, a Gators booster and a former football staffer defrauded him with a bait-and-switch NIL offer. He’s suing them.

What. A. Mess.

A mess that demands fresh leadership and new direction.

Once the gold standard of college athletics, Florida’s front porch became an eyesore. The thing about your front porch is, everyone sees it.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

The week 12 slate in college football is light on ranked-vs.-ranked matchups, but there are more than enough important conference games around the nation to keep our panel of prognosticators busy.

The only two Top 25 showdowns, unsurprisingly, are in the SEC. The headliner is No. 4 Tennessee’s long-anticipated visit to No. 10 Georgia, where the Bulldogs are in dire need of a bounce-back performance after last week’s loss to Mississippi. Elsewhere in the league of augmented importance, surging South Carolina puts its new-found No. 23 ranking on the line playing host to No. 21 Missouri.

In Big Ten action, top-ranked Oregon leaves the west coast for the last time in the regular season paying a visit to Wisconsin. No. 16 Clemson travels Pittsburgh in ACC action, and a full day in the Big 12 features No. 19 Kansas State hosting Arizona State.

UP AND DOWN: Army, Georgia lead CFP ranking winners and losers

SEC BIAS?: Playoff rankings didn’t do any favors to league usually favored

Read on to see how our panel thinks those games and all the others involving the teams in the US LBM Coaches Poll will turn out. You can even check out our standings for the season thus far, but then again this writer does not recommend that.

Blake Snell is a free agent once again, the two-time Cy Young winner available to the highest bidder for the second time in nine months.

Snell opted out of the contract he signed with the San Francisco Giants just weeks before opening day, finishing the season on an absolute tear after a rough start with his new team – tossing a no-hitter along the way.

Snell is back on the market and is widely expected to finally receive the sort of multiyear deal that never materialized for the lefty last winter.

Here’s a look at some of the best fits for Snell – who turns 32 in December – including two possible reunions:

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San Francisco Giants

They’re not (ever?) going to get a big-time free agent hitter to play at Oracle Park, so the Giants might as well just keep pursuing the top pitchers. Snell fell into their laps last spring and rounded into form as the season went on, going 10-2 with a 1.35 ERA in his last 16 starts, ultimately resulting in his opting out. The familiarity is there so why not just bring him back?

Los Angeles Dodgers

Why not? Shohei Ohtani deferred 97% of his $700 million deal for this very reason, giving the Dodgers financial flexibility to recruit top free agents. There’s certainly some variables here (will they sign Roki Sasaki?), but the two-time Cy Young winner would slot right into a Dodgers rotation that has major injury concerns surrounding Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani coming back from a second Tommy John surgery, as well as the possible departures of Walker Buehler and Jack Flaherty.

New York Mets

The NL runners-up desperately need pitching with Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana all free agents and owner Steve Cohen is expected to do some shopping at the top of this year’s class. Despite his two Cy Young awards, Snell would be a pretty boom-or-bust signing for the Mets, who are trying to build something sustainable and may prefer the consistency of Burnes if they’re going to go for an ace.

San Diego Padres

Should all parties just run it back? Snell had a 3.15 ERA in three seasons with the Padres after a trade from the Rays, winning the 2023 Cy Young award in his final year with San Diego. With Joe Musgrove out for the year after Tommy John surgery, the Padres should probably add a higher-tier starter. But the kind of long-term deal that Snell desires may not be something San Diego wants to get involved in – just like last winter.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels got the 2024-25 hot stove going with some smaller moves, a trade for Jorge Soler and the additions of free agents Kyle Hendricks and Travis d’Arnaud in the weeks since the World Series. Those transactions don’t necessarily indicate that Arte Moreno’s club will spend big bucks to improve one of the worst teams in baseball, but they can’t be counted out considering their flirtation with Snell last winter.

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Sam Cosmi took it upon himself to deliver the message. His Washington Commanders teammates needed to hear what the right guard had to say in the locker room following the team’s 28-27 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. 

“I wanted them to know that to not let this snowball effect into next week,” Cosmi said. “I wanted them to know what we have here is still special. Like no matter what, we still keep fighting. I wanted them to know this should hurt. This should hurt your core. This means a lot to us.”

Cosmi played during the Ron Rivera era of the Commanders – four years of dismal on-field results and mounting off-field scandals that were linked not to the team but rather former owner Dan Snyder. But Josh Harris and his partners purchased the team last summer. Adam Peters was hired to take control of football operations, and Dan Quinn has thrived in his second chance as a coach in the NFL. The Commanders are 7-3 and face the Philadelphia Eagles (7-2) on “Thursday Night Football” with the NFC East lead on the line. 

With the looming short week, Cosmi’s elocution set the tone of moving on from a loss in which the Commanders blew a 10-point lead at home. The fourth-year offensive lineman also, perhaps without realizing it, offered his own assessment of the transformation of an entire franchise – and the heightened expectations that come with doing so. 

“What Dan Quinn has done, what Adam Peters has done, is change the culture,” Cosmi told reporters. “We don’t have the most talented team, but we have a hard-working team.

All things Commanders: Latest Washington Commanders news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

“Winning is the ultimate goal. And like I know from the past, this means a lot, not only to me, but to everybody. So just to keep their heads up and keep fighting, and let’s get ready to beat Philly.”

Accelerated expectations

Before the loss to Pittsburgh, Washington had not started a season 7-2 in 28 years. Although the lower bowl of Northwest Stadium was filled with yellow “Terrible Towels,” the Commanders say they have sold out every home game this season and had a 90% renewal rate on season tickets, according to the Washington Post. Gate receipts are up 20%, and the team has signed 29 new sponsorship deals in the past year. 

Having the presumptive Offensive Rookie of the Year in quarterback Jayden Daniels, the No. 2 pick and reigning Heisman Trophy winner, sped up the turnaround. But the organizational infrastructure, offensive line and coaching provided to the 23-year-old has made his transition to the NFL smoother, although Daniels has nursed a rib injury since Week 7.

There is also fan excitement – from the viral clip of a fan pre-celebrating the Hail Mary victory against the Chicago Bears in October to players and coaches saying they can actually feel energy from the home crowd.

Daniels’ historic start cooled down in a Week 6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Washington showed it could hang with a team that has an “entrenched” identity, as Quinn said. The next day, Quinn was asked whether winning the NFC East had become the expectation for the team. The coach said the team rarely discussed expectations, but that it was a goal mentioned at the beginning of the season.  

“We don’t try to get jammed up on expectations or things that are down the line or any of that,” Quinn said. “We just try to dig right into this week and say, ‘This is, you know, we’re based on improvement.’ It’s like a lifestyle we live here, man. Can you get better? Can you dig in further? Can you get to that spot? And so that’s kind of the stressor that we go and not on outside expectations. 

“I recognize the question about the division because it is really important to talk about that, but you don’t really talk about those until you talk about the division games when you’re playing in them.’

Washington is 2-0 in NFC East games this year, both victories against the New York Giants. Four of their final eight games are against either the Eagles or Dallas Cowboys. 

Culture is key to rapid turnaround

The Commanders finished last in the division during Rivera’s final two seasons and cratered at 4-13 in 2023. A coaching search yielded Quinn, the former Atlanta Falcons head coach who had spent the previous three seasons leading the Cowboys’ defense. 

“I didn’t really understand culture. I haven’t been a part of a ‘good culture,’” Cosmi said. “This year, I’m slowly but surely – I see it. It’s really cool to see and be a part of. Talking and acting on it. So I’m excited about that.”

Five years ago, then-general manager Bruce Allen said the “culture is actually damn good” in Washington, and the remark became a punchline. 

At the trade deadline last year, Rivera was pushed to sell off defensive line pieces Montez Sweat and Chase Young, both former first-round picks of the organization. A year later, Peters found himself buying at the deadline and acquired former New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore, whose Commanders debut will have to wait at least another week as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury. 

“I don’t necessarily look at it as being a buyer or a seller,” said Peters, who had $96 million in cap space to work with this offseason and signed respected veterans (who have also been contributors) such as tight end Zach Ertz, running back Austin Ekeler, linebacker Frankie Luvu and linebacker Bobby Wagner. “I think just trying to do the best I can to help this team be as good as it can.”

Quinn defines culture as “how a group lives their life together.” For him, it’s in the standards – effort and physicality, for example – he has set.

“The things that we want to play with,” Quinn said after Washington’s 3-1 start. “Has it been all perfect? Hell no. But there is (sic) a lot of things that show how far people are in for one another. And those kinds of things go a long way to helping that identity come to shape.

“But it takes a while to fully go through that, and every time we’re playing, you just see that over and over. So yeah, we’re building that, but by no means in four games are we where we’re going to be two months from now.”

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No pressure, it’s just perfection.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have raced out to a perfect 13-0 mark this season under new coach Kenny Atkinson, becoming the sixth team in NBA history to win their first 13 games of the season. The Cavaliers are the NBA’s second-rated offense (120.9) and most accurate 3-point shooting team (41.2%). Cleveland ranks second in point differential (11.7), behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder (12.7).

Yet, the Cavaliers are nowhere near the NBA’s most prolific start, with five teams still ahead. The good news for Cleveland is that of the five previous teams that won their first 13 games to start a regular season, four made it to the NBA Finals.

Here’s everything you need to know about the best starts in NBA history.

What is the record for best start in NBA history?

The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, the team that went on to set the record for most regular season victories in a single season (73), also set the mark for best start to a season in NBA history.

All things Cavaliers: Latest Cleveland Cavaliers news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

The Warriors opened their season 24-0 before picking up their first loss of that season on Dec. 12 against the Bucks. It obliterated the previous NBA record for best start to a season, when the 1993-94 Houston Rockets went 15-0.

Interestingly, it wasn’t coach Steve Kerr who led the team to that remarkable start. Kerr underwent back surgery and was sidelined for the first 43 games of the season. Assistant coach Luke Walton served as the interim coach and led Golden State to that 24-0 start and eventually led the team to a 39-4 mark before Kerr returned.

The 2015-16 Warriors lost in the NBA Finals in seven games to the Cavaliers.

Where do the Cavaliers rank in best starts in NBA history?

2015-16 Golden State Warriors (lost NBA Finals): 24-0
1993-94 Houston Rockets (won NBA Finals): 15-0
1948-49 Washington Capitols (lost NBA Finals): 15-0
2002-03 Dallas Mavericks (lost Western Conference Finals): 14-0
1957-58 Boston Celtics (lost NBA Finals): 14-0
2024-25 Cleveland Cavaliers: 13-0
1996-97 Chicago Bulls (won NBA Finals): 12-0
1982-83 Seattle SuperSonics (lost first-round series): 12-0

Cleveland Cavaliers upcoming schedule

Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. vs. Chicago Bulls
Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. vs. Charlotte Hornets
Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at Boston Celtics
Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Nov. 24 at 7:30 p.m. vs. Toronto Raptors
Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. vs. Atlanta Hawks
Nov. 29 at 2:30 p.m. at Atlanta Hawks
Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. vs. Boston Celtics
Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. vs. Washington Wizards
Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. vs. Denver Nuggets
Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. at Charlotte Hornets
Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. at Miami Heat

*All times Eastern