Koby Altman finishes second in NBA Executive of the Year voting

Altman opted to keep the Cavs’ roster intact, despite some external pressure to make a big move.

Cleveland Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman finished second in the NBA’s Executive of the Year award, falling to Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti. Altman received six first-place votes, eight second-place votes, and four third place votes.

Presti and the Thunder traded for Alex Caruso, a key defensive piece, and signed center Isaiah Hartenstein in the offseason to give the team more size down low. The results were sparkling, but not necessarily solely because of those moves. Oklahoma City was already a good team, much like the Cavs, but augmented by smaller contributions.

Altman beat out Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon by six points. Rafael Stone of the Houston Rockets finished fourth with 38 points. Presti had 74 points, 16 more than Altman.

Rob Pelinka, who helped manufacture the Luka Doncic acquisition for the Los Angeles Lakers, finished sixth with 11 points. Nico Harrison, oddly, didn’t receive any votes.

Altman and the Cavs’ front office appeared on the cusp of blowing up their roster this past summer. There were rumblings of unhappy players, a head coach who no longer commanded respect, and an impending Donovan Mitchell contract extension. Instead of giving in to public and peer pressure, Altman kept his core four intact, signed Mitchell to an extension, bet on Darius Garland returning to form (which he did), hired the eventual NBA Coach of the Year in Kenny Atkinson, and extended the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley.

Seems good? Yeah, that seems good. That set the Cavs up for dominance for the next several seasons, which is all you can ask of a front office.