Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman knew the risk and reward when he acquired Donovan Mitchell via trade from the Utah Jazz in September 2022.
The reward for aggressively pursuing Mitchell was an obvious one.
For the first time since LeBron James left for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, Cleveland had a top-15 player on its roster, and more importantly one under contract for the next three seasons.
The 2022 trade for Mitchell also started the clock on Cleveland building a championship roster and then selling the five-time All-Star on what the future could look like long term with the Cavaliers.
Since that September deal, Cleveland has won 99 games in Mitchell's first two seasons -- the fifth most of any NBA team -- and reached the conference semifinals for the first time since James' last season with the team in 2018.
And about the risk. That arrives this coming offseason.
Cleveland on Thursday fired coach J.B. Bickerstaff, and now it is up to Altman to identify the next leader to guide this roster past the second round of the playoffs. There are no mulligans if the Cavaliers fail to do so.
Playoffs or not, Mitchell's future factors into prominent play for the next coach. Mitchell, 27, was eligible to sign a three-year extension last offseason, but he passed, saying he wants it "to be known that I still have the opportunity to sign an extension next summer. I don't think a lot of people understand that aspect."