Scooby AxsonUSA TODAY
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On May 12, 1985, two-year-old Koby Altman was taking a nap when his mother, Deborah, a die-hard New York Knicks fan, was eagerly anticipating the CBS broadcast showing the first-ever NBA Draft Lottery, instituted the year before to prevent teams from tanking.
The stakes were high, especially for the seven lottery teams who relied on the strange concept of rotating envelopes to decide their future. The Knicks, coming off a pitiful 24-58 season, could bring the excitement of basketball back to the Big Apple or continue its decade-long championship drought with a stroke of luck.
"And the first pick in the 1985 NBA Draft," Commissioner David Stern said while holding up a card with the Knicks logo.
Knowing that year's prize, Georgetown All-American center Patrick Ewing, was headed to the Big Apple, Deborah Altman let out a deafening scream that woke her toddler from his crib and thus began a four-decade love affair with basketball.
That love affair, decades later, would land Altman where he is now: general manager of a Cleveland Cavaliers team who has helped engineer the franchise back to playoff form after the post-Lebron James era.
Born to an African American father and a Jewish mother, Altman grew up in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn, where diversity wasn't much of an issue, and as time grew, neither was an absent father. Like many thousands who honed their skills on the blacktop or the public school system of New York City and sported Converse and Adidas, the dream was always the NBA.
"The harder thing with the socioeconomic struggles was not that we were poor; we were lower middle-class," Altman told USA TODAY Sports. "That was the differentiator in New York. We all went to the park and played; whatever skin tone you were, you would get your praise if you could hoop. If you defended your turf, you had respect from your peers, and that was the most important thing."
Vermont's fish out of water
After graduating from New Utrecht High School, Altman made his way north to Middlebury College, a Division III liberal arts school in western Vermont by way of the Posse Foundation, which provides full-tuition scholarships to potential students from diverse backgrounds.
Altman's academic education from Middlebury, which he likens to a "country club" atmosphere, gave him the tools he uses as a basketball executive today.
"Learning how to write and it gave me the skillset to make arguments, defend those arguments, with real data and soundbites and articulate that really well," Altman said. "Every day, I have to make an argument. I have to go to the owner and tell him why we need to do this and use analytics to back that up while eloquent in my discussions."
But his hoops education came as the team's 5-foot-10, 170-pound starting point guard for three years. The beginnings of a business background soon followed. He was introduced to Joel Radmin, a managing partner in the commercial real estate firm Friedman-Roth Realty in New York. He was advised to shadow Radmin for a few months to learn the art of selling.
His first month on the job was a success: He sold a $2 million building and received a $40,000 commission, but despite this, he would find opportunities to get away from work and head to Xavier High School, where legendary coach Joe McGrane would let him help out with his freshman team.
"I really enjoyed it, but I was missing what I truly love to do," Altman said. "The thought is let me start saving money because I am literally starting from scratch getting back into basketball. The thought was, how am I going to make this work?"
But the risk was high, especially leaving a high-paying job earning over six figures. Still, after three years, Altman left his New York comfort zone and headed to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to get a master's degree in sports management. He also landed a gig as an assistant coach on the Division III team, all for a stipend of $7,500 a year.
Another UMass Sports Management program graduate, Sean Ford, who was then the men's national team director for USA Basketball, hired Altman to work with the U-19 team and perform non-basketball duties, such as serving as the personal laundromat for the team's players.
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After stops as a graduate assistant atSouthern Illinoisin 2009–10 and making his way back to New York as an assistant atColumbia, Altman joined the Cleveland Cavaliers in August 2012, first as a pro personnel scout and then a year later, was bumped up to be the director of pro personnel, serving in that position for three years before becoming the assistant general manager.
In the summer of 2017, at age 34, Altman was promoted to general manager and looked to continue the momentum after seeing the Cavaliers storm back from a 3-1 NBA Finals series deficit to the Golden State Warriors to take home the franchise's first championship.
James' future with the team was still a question mark. His expiring deal at season's end loomed large, as the Cavaliers turned over nearly their entire roster at the trade deadline, and the subsequent fire sale, although firmly entrenched in playoff position, resulted in three different trades involving 10 players and four teams.
Despite that, Cleveland reached the Finals for a fourth straight season, where the rematch quickly turned into a mismatch and a four-game sweep by the Warriors.
James indeed took his talents out west, signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, leading to an entire rebuild and philosophy of building a championship-level team. This was Altman's challenge: moving on from a legend.
The rebuild
One of Altman's primary missions is to make Cleveland a destination for players who want to contend for championships.
Altman says a job description for a general manager or anyone in basketball operations is simple. It starts with talent evaluation, but they must succeed in the three areas of drafting, free agency, and trades. And because Cleveland has done those solidly in the past five years, hosting another championship isn't a pipe dream.
The non-simple parts are the external, he says. Dealing with media pressure and its scrutiny and ensuring the staff and players are cared for. He says that despite the loss of James, the team is ahead of schedule in its rebuilding despite having only two players on its roster who are over the age of 30.
"After LeBron's departure, that's when I started to get my sea legs about what we wanted to be about," Altman said. "We are going to build this through the draft, and I'm going to get guys that have three things: great, incredible work ethic, unbelievable attitudes, and guys that really want to be in Cleveland and create a pathway for players to get better."
His own work ethic comes from his mother, Deborah, a longtime social worker at Sheepshead Bay High School and who with basketball while pursuing an education at North Carolina and watching legendary coach Dean Smith.
"I don't think she ever missed a day at work. And I don't think that she was ever late," Altman said of his mother, who died in 2023. "I have the best job in the world. I get to watch basketball for a living. I can't come to work and have a bad day. Being available, with a great attitude, and everyday grind that she showed are the traits that permeate our building every day."
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Dan Gilbert, who has owned the Cavaliers since 2005, says Altman's focus and drive have paid dividends for the city and the organization.
"If you ask his peers, his team, or others around the league, you will consistently hear the same thing: Koby leads purposefully and unselfishly and works every day to make those around him better," he said. "He has a high level of awareness, a strong sense of urgency, and he is a very nice guy."
The task of rebuilding a roster was difficult as Cleveland won 19 games each in the two years after James left town.
The team then drafted Darius Garland in 2019, Isaac Okoro in 2020, and Evan Mobley in 2021, using trade assets to bring All-Star forward Jarrett Allen from Brooklyn and Donovan Mitchell from Utah.
Those shrewd moves have paid off, and Cleveland has increased its win total in each of the last four years. "You have to take some risks," Altman said. "There is a saying in Brooklyn: scared money don't make money."
'I am doing this for them'
Cleveland won 51 games last season, the most since 2016. This season's success, despite injuries to Mitchell, Mobley, and Max Strus, comes from the defensive end. They finished seventh in defensive rating, and Mitchell led the team with a 26.6 point-per-game average despite an injury-riddled season.
The Cavaliers’ 48 wins during the 2023-24 season were good enough for the fourth seed, where they will start the postseason this weekend against the Orlando Magic.
Altman is now a married father of two, ages six and four. His wife, Rachael, is a certified nurse practitioner in pediatrics at the Cleveland Clinic.
"I am doing this for them," Altman said when asked about his daily motivation. "All of this stuff we are putting together is for them and to obviously be successful and have great lives and be a positive force."
Altman has been that force for the Cavaliers, too.
