Are the Cleveland Cavaliers and Donovan Mitchell destined for an abrupt ending? One NBA insider thinks so.
So far, the 2023 NBA off-season has been much quieter than 2022. By this time last year, a number of marquee trades had been swung, such as Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves and Dejounte Murray to the Hawks. Donovan Mitchell's trade to the Cavaliers would happen weeks later.
2023 has been much quieter on the trade front, at least execution-wise. We are now more than a month removed from Damian Lillard's formal trade request and nearly a month removed from James Harden's trade request.
The former is a massive domino that executives around the league are waiting to see fall before making moves. Pair that with a new CBA that kicks in next summer and we've got a recipe for extreme caution and patience. However, should the Lillard — and then Harden — trade happen, a return to normalcy will likely ensue and more trade rumors will heat up from there.
Some NBA insiders have already discussed what names could come after Lillard and Harden: Karl Anthony-Towns, Pascal Siakam, and Zach LaVine to name a few. Earlier this week though, ESPN's Tim Bontemps added a new name to the mix on The Hoop Collective Podcast: Donovan Mitchell.
Should the Cavaliers trade Donovan Mitchell?
Mitchell's contract currently runs through the 2025-26 season, but does have a player option in the summer of 2025 meaning he could only have two seasons left for the Cavaliers if he so chooses.
Mitchell has also failed to win a playoff series two seasons in a row now, raising doubts about his status as a true star in the league. It is also the worst-kept secret in the league that Mitchell, a New York native, wanted to go to the New York Knicks last summer when the Utah Jazz were shopping him around.
While these all sound like reasons to move Mitchell, what it really means is Cleveland should be open to the idea and taking calls, but still demanding a very high asking price.
Under new CBA rules, Mitchell's value will only go up as he gets closer to being either an expiring contract or a player a team wants to trade for because they know he'll sign an extension with them.
For Cleveland, it would be very shortsighted to pull the plug on their current squad. They've had a productive summer — adding Max Strus, Georges Niang, and re-signing Caris LeVert — to address their wing depth issues from last season.
Last season's series against the Knicks was also the first playoff appearance for both Darius Garland and Evan Mobley. Give those guys a chance to improve and maybe they could be a surprise Eastern Conference team.
Bontemps' reasoning is sound, but there's plenty of time on the clock for the Cavaliers with this team and they shouldn't rush any decision as big as a Mitchell trade for quite some time.
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