It was a little more than a year ago that Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell was said to be all but finished in Cleveland, that the chances of him re-signing with the Cavs after his contract ran up following next season.
So much for that. On Tuesday, Mitchell and the Cavs ended any notion of him hitting free agency next summer or demanding a trade in the meantime, as the sides agreed on a maximum-contract extension for $150 million over three years, with the third year at his option.
Mitchell himself confirmed the deal with a post on Twitter/X, which included a photo of himself on the floor in a Cavaliers uniform during the first-round series between Cleveland and Orlando, alongside a GIF from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s character declares, “I’m not leaving!”
That’s good news for the Cavaliers who have had some anxious moments over the past couple of years since acquiring Mitchell from the Jazz in 2019. The team gave up Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji plus three first-round picks and two pick swaps to complete the trade for Mitchell, hoping to build a championship caliber roster around him.
Donovan Mitchell Averaged 26.2 Points
The Cavaliers did make progress this season, winning 48 games in the Eastern Conference, and advancing in the playoffs for the first time since LeBron James was in Cleveland, back in 2018 when the Cavs lost to the Warriors in the NBA Finals. It was not easy—the Cavs needed seven games and had to overcome an 18-point deficit in the clincher to do it.
Mitchell, a five-time All-Star, scored 39 points in that game. He is coming off what was one of the best seasons in his career, in which he averaged 26.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists, on 46.2% shooting.
Cleveland is a team that has considerable young talent, with Mitchell the centerpiece but with point guard Darius Garland and big men Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley also on board. There has been speculation about the team’s future, though, as there are questions about whether the Mobley-Allen pairing works, and similar questions about Garland and Mitchell’s ability to work together.
Now that Mitchell is locked up, perhaps the Cavaliers will begin looking at potential trades to reshape the roster around him.
Cavaliers Will Relish This Moment
No matter what happens down the line, though, this is a triumphant moment for the franchise, which was looking to keep its biggest star since James left in place. For much of the past year, the angst over Mitchell’s contract decision hung over the franchise.
Mitchell had before the start of last season that he would not sign an extension during the year, but he also said that did not mean he would not sign one this summer.
But it was also last summer that ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, speaking on the podcast “The Hoops Collective,’ said the Cavs had little chance of keeping Mitchell in place.
“I don’t think there’s any chance he signs an extension there ever,” Bontemps said at the time. “And if it was up to me, I would trade Donovan Mitchell today, because I don’t the Cavs are getting as far as they hope to next year, I don’t think he’s going to extend and I think they’ll get a lot more for him with two summers left than they would with one summer left.”
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