CLEVELAND — Donovan Mitchell played for the Cavaliers on Friday night, in an important game they won against the Philadelphia 76ers, for the first time since March 16 due to nose and knee injuries.
While he was out, one of Mitchell’s closest teammates, Georges Niang, and Cavaliers chairman Dan Gilbert both expressed a great deal of confidence that the All-Star would sign a lucrative contract extension that keeps him in Cleveland.
The 12 points and eight assists Mitchell tallied in 32 minutes in the Cavs’ 117-114 win over Philadelphia preceded his first media ability since he went out and, also, since Niang and Gilbert each put it out there that they thought Mitchell would remain a Cav.
“I thought Georges said I was going to the Mets,” Mitchell said, coyly. “I think the biggest thing for me, as I said before to you earlier, I mean obviously you have to ask the question, but my focus is I got a lot of things to focus on outside of that right now. I’ve got to focus on myself, getting back for this group, focus on us getting over this stretch, continuing to be ready when it comes time.
“So, I’ll handle that when it comes, and I understand you gotta ask that question and I’ll give you the same answer.”
Yes, on Dec. 16, Mitchell respectfully cut off a line of questioning from The Athletic about his looming contract extension, saying, “My job is to focus on this,” and, “I’m not going there with any of those questions.”
Mitchell can sign an extension for up to four years and about $200 million this summer. If he does, the Cavs know they can continue building a respectable franchise into a championship contender around him. If he declines, they must consider trading him or risk losing him for nothing the following summer in free agency.
Thanks, SPIDA. ✨@spidadmitchell | #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/vJzl4YZhe0
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) March 29, 2024
Nationally, Mitchell’s contract situation is of great interest, in part because the NBA thrives on trade rumors and free-agency shockers, and also because he’s been linked to the big markets of New York, L.A. and elsewhere in potential trades.
In Cleveland, fans hate this storyline because A) they know Mitchell’s contract is a thing, and B) they’re worn out from having to go through this multiple times with LeBron James.
But while Mitchell was recovering from a broken nose and a lingering knee injury, Niang and Gilbert not only spoke the issue back into the foreground, they added a twist by speaking with such confidence that Mitchell will sign.
To be clear, both men were responding to questions from various media outlets. First, Niang said on Ryen Russillo’s podcast: “From the vibes I get around here and from when I was with (Mitchell in Utah) and the experiences over there, I would lean towards (Mitchell) being a Cavalier for a long time. That’s just my personal thought. That has nothing to do with what he’s going to do because he’s his own person, but I think he genuinely enjoys this organization, the situation that he’s in, how it can continue to help grow his career and how it can affect his ability to win.”
Then on Thursday, Gilbert told The Associated Press in an interview: “We’ve been talking to him, sure, for the last couple of years about extending this contract. 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.”
Niang was Mitchell’s teammate in Utah, where Mitchell signed a five-year, $163 million deal with the Jazz in 2020. And Gilbert owns the team that traded three first-round picks and multiple players to acquire Mitchell prior to the 2022-23 season. Mitchell has been extension-eligible for months, with a three-year, roughly $150 million extension available to him, but he had said he wasn’t interested in signing so early.
Mitchell, 27, a five-time All-Star, has never been a free agent, and it is assumed the Cavs need to show him they are progressing toward legitimate title contention to convince him to stay. Winning can’t hurt, and the money he can make in Cleveland is more than he can sign for elsewhere, but his preferences could expand beyond winning and money.
He’d previously expressed a desire to play in the New York market, where he is from, and it’s possible he may have lifestyle interests outside of Cleveland. Or he could choose to stay. The point is, one shouldn’t just assume the Cavs have to get to the conference finals to decide Mitchell’s fate.
Statistically, the two best seasons Mitchell has ever had were in Cleveland. He scored a career-high 71 points for the Cavs in a game last season. He has more 40-point games as a Cavalier than he has toes. Cleveland also improved the roster after last season’s first-round playoff loss, adding Max Strus and Niang.
To Mitchell’s point about having more pressing matters to worry about, yes, it’s been a rotten month for him and the team that so desperately wants to keep him. Mitchell has played in just three of Cleveland’s 16 games in March. The Cavs are 7-9 this month and actually slipped to fourth place in the East; they’re back in third thanks in part to San Antonio’s overtime win over the Knicks on Friday night.
The Cavs had to have Friday’s game. The Sixers, of course, are still without Joel Embiid, though Sixers fans should know Embiid is with the team on this two-game trip. He is inching ever closer to a return from surgery to repair a meniscus tear, and his coach, Nick Nurse, said Embiid has gotten to the point where he needs to practice against multiple teammates. Cleveland needed a win because the team starts a brutal, five-game West Coast trip Sunday in Denver.
The Knicks are just a half-game behind the Cavs and fifth-place Orlando is 2 1/2 games back. There is little room for error and just a short time to build proper momentum for the playoffs.
So on Friday night, Niang scored 25 off the bench, and Evan Mobley scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, including the biggest 3-pointer of his NBA career with 28.2 seconds left that put the Cavs ahead for good.
“I don’t like to pinpoint ‘signature’ and all the things people say about wins, but this is a momentum opportunity for us,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
“We got plenty of time — I mean, I shouldn’t say plenty of time, we have time to figure it out,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got (eight) games against really good teams, I think, that’s ultimately gonna test us.
“The biggest thing is, what happens in the past, stays in the past. We take this game, we move forward, we get ready for this trip and go from there.”
From “there” to a contract extension? It’s a question he understands is coming but won’t be answering until the summer.
(Photo: Ken Blaze / USA Today)
