Former Cavs sharpshooter envious of Donovan Mitchell being able to take nearly 10 3-pointers a game

Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell has been an incredible 3-point shooter so far this season, hitting 43.6 percent of his 3-pointers on 9.3 attempts per game. Cavs legend Mark Price is jealous of the number of times Mitchell is able to shoot from deep.

Price played in the NBA from 1986 to 1998 and called Cleveland home for many of those years. During his time with the Cavs, Price earned four All-Star Game appearances. Though 3-point shooting was not valued back then the way it is now, the Georgia Tech University product still managed to make a real impact from beyond the arc.

In his career, he shot 47.2 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from beyond the arc. However, his 3-point attempts per game over his career ended up at just 3.4. He attempted a career-high 5.3 deep shots per game in the 1994-95 campaign, his final with the Cavs.

Surely, his career average of 15.2 points per game would have been a lot higher had he been able to take close to 10 deep shots per game in his career.

As for Mitchell, he’s been launching nearly 10 shots from deep over the past three seasons. He averaged 8.7 shots from downtown per game in the 2020-21 season and 9.8 last season.

What has been very different so far this season compared to those other campaigns is the rate in which Mitchell is hitting those attempts. In the first five seasons of his career, Mitchell hit 36.1 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.

This season, he’s having much more success.

That success from 3 has played a big role in Mitchell being able to average 29.7 points per game, over five points more than his career average. It has also helped the Cavs win a lot of games already in the relatively young 2022-23 campaign.

On Saturday, the Cavs will have a chance to earn their 20th win of the season. They currently sit at the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Mitchell isn’t doing it alone in Cleveland, either. The team has benefited greatly from starters like Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen as well as guys like Cedi Osman, Caris LeVert and Kevin Love contributing off the bench.