The Cleveland Cavaliers have looked like one of the best teams in the NBA early on in the 2022-23 season, and WWE star Michael Gregory Mizanin, also known as “The Miz,” has gone so far as to predict an NBA Finals appearance for the young team.
Mizanin is among many fans who have been incredibly impressed by what newcomer Donovan Mitchell has brought to the table early in his Cavs career.
“We’re going to the NBA Finals,” the Parma, Ohio native predicted. “We’re going to the NBA Finals. They got a young squad, and they got some good superstars.”
He then spoke highly of Mitchell, adding that the Cavs fan base did not believe a star would ever come to the team because Cleveland is not an “L.A. or New York or Miami market.”
He admitted that he once believed the Cavs would be dependent on landing LeBron James’ son Bronny in order to bring his superstar father back to The Land.
“I was like, ‘Oh we need Bronny to come in to Cleveland so LeBron will come back, win us a championship,'” he said. “Now I’m looking at it going, ‘Wow, maybe we don’t need LeBron to win a championship. … Oh man, we have the team that could actually do this.’ It’s crazy!”
Earlier this year, Mizanin himself made a desperate plea to the elder James to return to his hometown team.
“We want you,” Mizanin said. “We need you. Please, come to Cleveland, and just bring us another championship.”
While he would surely still love for the elder James to one day return to the Cavs, it is clear that the team no longer needs him to succeed.
In fact, the rebuilding period that began after the four-time MVP’s departure back in 2018 has been one of the most successful rebuilds in recent NBA memory.
The Cavs currently sit alone at the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, just one game back of the Milwaukee Bucks, the only undefeated team left in the NBA.
Mitchell has been incredible in every game, and he is getting some early MVP buzz thanks to his averages of 32.2 points, 7.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game.
What makes the young team’s success even more impressive is that every victory so far this season has come with All-Star guard Darius Garland not on the floor. He suffered an eye injury in the first game of the season and hasn’t played since then.
Once Garland comes back, the team figures to be that much more dangerous.
It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a Cavs fan at the moment, and there is no doubt that expectations are rising for the team.
The Cavs will get another chance to prove that they’re legit when they host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night. They beat the Celtics on the road last week in an overtime thriller.
