Donovan Mitchell has agreed to a three-year, $150.3 million max extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers, CBS Sports NBA insider Bill Reiter confirmed Tuesday. The deal, which includes a player option for the 2027-28 season ends any doubt about Mitchell's immediate future in Cleveland.
Mitchell, who spent the first five seasons of his career with the Utah Jazz, arrived in Cleveland two years ago in a blockbuster deal. Just as the front office hoped, he was the star they needed to return to national relevance, and they've made the playoffs in each of MItchell's two seasons in town.
While Mitchell has performed extremely well during his time with the team, there have been doubts about whether he would be interested in sticking around long-term. Two early postseason exits only heightened the concern. Per Adrian Wojnarowski, though, Mitchell met with president of basketball operations Koby Altman over the weekend and is confident in the organization's ability to build a team capable of contending for a title.
Mitchell is coming off another All-Star season, his fifth selection in a row, but was limited to 55 games due to hamstring, knee and nose issues. Due to the league's new rules requiring players to appear in at least 65 games to be eligible for All-NBA consideration, Mitchell was ineligible for that honor despite averaging 26.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists. A calf strain then cut his postseason short in the second round, and the Cavaliers were eliminated by the eventual champion Boston Celtics.
Inking Mitchell to an extension was the latest move in a busy offseason for the Cavaliers, who fired head coach J.B. Bickerstaff in May following the loss to the Celtics. After an extensive search, they replaced him with Kenny Atkinson, who was last a head coach from 2016-20 with the Brooklyn Nets.
Upon his hiring, Atkinson said he made a "great connection" with Mitchell and was excited to get to work with him.
"That's what's great about this situation -- is the roster that's in place," Atkinson said. "There's enough. There's enough to take that next step, no doubt about it."
Now that Mitchell's extension is taken care of, the Cavaliers' next task is to figure out which members of that roster should stick around long-term. Are Mitchell and Darius Garland the best fit together in their backcourt? Likewise, will they move one of Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen in the frontcourt?
There are still some difficult decisions ahead for Altman and Co. as the Cavaliers try to move into the contenders circle in the Eastern Conference.
