Donovan Mitchell made it clear: “I’m not leaving.”
#LetEmKnow @cavs pic.twitter.com/QU1re4zn0G
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) July 2, 2024
Mitchell’s post essentially confirmed an Adrian Wojnarowski report that he had agreed to a three-year, $150.3 million extension with the Cavaliers. The final year of that extension is a player option, which will allow him to opt out when he reaches 10 years of service, when he could, in theory, re-sign again in Cleveland for five years, $380 million.
Mitchell’s re-signing was expected. The clearest sign of that: Amid all the rumors about Paul George, Klay Thompson and other summer moves, nobody in front offices was talking about Mitchell. They knew. Another sign Mitchell would return was when the Cavaliers fired coach J.B. Bickerstaff despite the team having won its first playoff series since LeBron James was in Cleveland. While GM Koby Altman may have been thinking it, he said after the season that Mitchell would be involved in offseason decisions, and with that there is no way a winning coach is fired and Kenny Atkinson is hired unless it’s something Mitchell wanted.
Mitchell, an All-Star, averaged 26.6 points, 6.1 assists, and 5.1 rebounds a game last season, shooting 36.8% from 3. He remains the hub of the Cleveland offense and one of the game’s premiere shot creators.
The next question is what the team around him is going to look like. While Altman and the Cavaliers have said they plan to keep their core four players — Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen — together and bank on experience and a new coach to take them to the next level, Garland’s agent Rich Paul said he would talk with Altman about whether a Mitchell and Garland backcourt was the best fit.
The Cavaliers may run it back next season, but that puts a lot of pressure on Altman and Mitchell to do more with the same roster. This is especially true in the East, where New York and Philadelphia have upgraded and everyone is chasing Boston (the team that eliminated the Cavaliers in the playoffs).
