NBA executive says Cavs are ‘weirdly optimistic’ about retaining Donovan Mitchell

In the eyes of an unnamed NBA executive, the Cleveland Cavaliers are “weirdly optimistic” about their chances of keeping star guard Donovan Mitchell.

“They’ve never talked about trading him as far as most of us know,” the executive told Heavy Sports. “They’ve always just kind of gone about their business. There is nothing that has come out of his camp to anyone about not being happy in Cleveland or he is gonna bust the door down to get out.

“Everyone assumes he wants to get back to New York (where Mitchell is from), and maybe he does, but he has never said that. I think Cleveland is just kind of optimistic, weirdly optimistic when it comes to him.”

Mitchell, for all intents and purposes, has just a single year remaining on his current contract. He is set to receive over $35 million in the 2024-25 campaign and then has a player option for the 2025-26 season.

The guard has seen his name connected to several teams — including the storied Los Angeles Lakers franchise — in trade buzz as of late.

The abundance in trade rumors pertaining to Mitchell comes in light of the Cavaliers’ season coming to an end only a few days ago.

After splitting the first two games of its second-round series against the Boston Celtics, Cleveland went on to lose the final three games. Mitchell played in only one of those three consecutive losses in the series due to a strained left calf.

Points were hard to come by for the Cavaliers in Games 4 and 5 without Mitchell on the court. The Cavaliers averaged just 100 points per game during that span and finished with only 98 in the deciding Game 5.

Sans Mitchell, Darius Garland didn’t step up from a scoring standpoint as much as the Cavaliers needed him to in order to extend the best-of-seven series. While Garland dropped 30 points in Game 4, he followed up that performance by finishing with 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting from the field in Game 5.

The Cavaliers were outclassed by the Celtics, but Cleveland’s stint in the 2024 NBA Playoffs still indicates that the team is trending in the right direction. After all, the Cavaliers managed to win a playoff series against the Orlando Magic after losing in the opening round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs.

Perhaps the fact that the Cavaliers were able to go farther in the playoffs than they did a year ago is why the team is optimistic about its chances of keeping Mitchell. It’s possible the squad’s first-round series victory will be enough to convince Mitchell that Cleveland has what it takes to make a deep playoff run in the near future.