If the Cavaliers make a run this postseason, Donovan Mitchell will almost certainly be at the forefront.
But that doesn’t mean his long-term future in Cleveland is a certainty at this point.
Mitchell, set to become a free agent after next season, is eligible for an extension this offseason, and if he doesn’t sign it, the Cavaliers “will discuss the possibility of moving him,” according to The Athletic, which cited anonymous sources.
The outlet also reported that “there is zero evidence that Mitchell wants to be elsewhere.”
But the contract situation could seemingly complicate things, with Mitchell set to make over $50 million next season before having a player option for the 2027-28 season.
Mitchell has averaged 27.9 points per game this season, which serves as his best number since 2022-23, and if he declines the extension, it means he could leave in free agency without the Cavaliers getting anything in return for the superstar who helped shape the franchise’s current era.
He earned a seventh consecutive All-Star Game appearance while also helping Cleveland — which added James Harden ahead of the NBA trade deadline — earn the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
“The world,” Mitchell told reporters when asked about what this postseason chance means to him. “This is a great opportunity, and with that, it’s on us in this locker room — everybody in the locker room — to go out there and execute at the highest level. … You’re ready to run through a wall for it, and I think that’s just what you’re built for. This is what you practice for. This is why you work so hard.”
For now, the Cavaliers’ path through the postseason will start against the Raptors.
But whenever it ends, the future of Mitchell could become a question that looms over the offseason — the latest possible change for a franchise that already sent Darius Garland, who was a young piece in their core, to the Rockets for Harden.
The former No. 13 overall pick has spent the last four seasons in Cleveland after he was traded by the Jazz.
