Cavs Unleash Chaotic Harden-Mitchell-Thomas Lineup
The Cleveland Cavaliers are starting James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Cam Thomas, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen on Monday against the Thunder, creating an offensively explosive and highly chaotic starting five.
HotTakes Editorial TeamUpdated 1 min read
Finding live odds…

The Cleveland Cavaliers are rolling out a starting five on Monday that looks like it was drafted by a teenager playing NBA 2K with the salary cap turned off. James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Cam Thomas, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen are officially getting the nod.
That is an absurd amount of usage rate packed into one backcourt. If you are holding an over ticket on any of these guards' individual point props, you might want to pray they figure out how to play with three basketballs at once.
"Underdog NBA reported the lineup alert on X."
Cleveland is sitting at 4-2 and currently boasts the seventh-best offensive rating in the league at 117.2. They just dropped 136 points on the Milwaukee Bucks over the weekend, and now they are injecting even more pure scoring into the first unit by swapping Thomas into the mix.
The math here is objectively hilarious. Mitchell is already pacing the team with 22.7 points per game, while Harden is operating as the primary facilitator with 6.3 assists a night.
Adding Thomas to a lineup that already features two ball-dominant guards and two traditional bigs in Mobley and Allen is the kind of chaotic basketball experiment that makes the regular season watchable. Defense might be optional, but the shot-making potential is terrifying.
They get to test drive this offensive funhouse mirror on Monday night against a 4-2 Oklahoma City Thunder squad. If this group actually figures out how to share the rock, the rest of the Eastern Conference is going to have a massive headache on its hands.
Key stats
Cleveland Cavaliers ORTG: 117.2 (7th in NBA)
Donovan Mitchell: 22.7 PPG
James Harden: 6.3 APG
Cleveland scored 136 points against the Bucks on Saturday
What's next
The Cavaliers will test this new lineup against the 4-2 Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night to see if the offensive firepower outweighs the defensive concerns.

Key stats



