Getty (L-R) Tyrese Maxey #0 and Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers talk with Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Cleveland Cavaliers‘ five-time All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell is at the center of the NBA rumor mill with only two weeks left before the postseason.
According to Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus, Mitchell is widely believed to leave Cleveland unless they rule the Eastern Conference this season.
“The buzz in NBA circles suggests that barring a run to the NBA Finals, Mitchell will decline an extension and look elsewhere, and the Cavaliers are more likely than not to move him well before he can leave outright as a free agent,” Pincus wrote on April 5.
Mitchell’s response to Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s confidence that his star player would sign an extension this summer only added more fuel to the fire.
“I got a lot of things to focus on outside of that right now,” Mitchell told reporters on March 30. “So, I’ll handle that when it comes.”
Two days earlier, Gilbert expressed confidence Mitchell would be a Cavalier for a long time.
“We’ve been talking to him, sure, for the last couple of years about extending this contract,” Gilbert told The Associated Press on Thursday, March 28. “We think he will extend. I think if you listen to him talk, he loves the city.
He loves the situation in Cleveland because our players are very young and we’re just kind of putting the core together that he’s clearly the biggest part of.”
But according to Pincus, the Cavaliers star “is all but certain to decline his $37.1 million player option for the 2025-26 season to explore unrestricted free agency next July.”
Cleveland gave up a lot to acquire Mitchell.
They sent three first-round picks, two first-round swaps, a future All-Star in Lauri Markkanen, the just-drafted Ochai Agbaji and Collin Sexton to Utah for Mitchell in September 2022.
The Pressure Is On
The pressure is on for the Cavaliers to deliver this season following their dismal first-round exit in Mitchell’s first year in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers are 2-2 over their last four games and 1-2 in which Mitchell played since he returned from nose and knee injuries. They are clinging to the third seed in the Eastern Conference with only a half-game lead over the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic with six games left in their regular-season schedule.
Mitchell is averaging 26.8 points, 6.0 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals this season but he has only played eight games since the NBA All-Star break. He sat out the first game of a back-to-back schedule on April 2 due to knee injury management. Without him, the Cavaliers routed his former team Utah Jazz 129-113.
The Cavaliers have the golden opportunity to make some noise in the playoffs with the Milwaukee Bucks struggling lately and the Knicks hobbled with injuries.
Lakers Eye Donovan Mitchell
The Cavaliers road game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, April 6, comes with a lot of intrigue not only because of the playoff seeding positioning. But also because the Lakers have their eyes on Mitchell should he become available.
In January, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that the Lakers had discussions about trading for Mitchell if he becomes available.
“The Lakers have discussed internally the possibility of packaging three picks, along with players they already have on their books, to pursue a bona fide star, such as Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers or Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks, team sources told ESPN,” McMenamin wrote on January 23.