Donovan Mitchell denies ‘meat-off’ comment in exchange with Darius Garland

Cleveland Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell starred in a commercial for Kim Kardashian’s clothing brand Skims back in October of last year. Following a big offensive night from Mitchell in a convincing home victory over Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, floor general Darius Garland shouted out Skims, and Mitchell then appeared to make a comment saying, “The meat-off.”

However, Mitchell took to X and denied that those words ever came out of his mouth.

The meat-off comments that folks are alleging came from Mitchell seem to originate from an online meme. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is another NBA star who’s starred in a Skims commercial, and after the Cavaliers beat the Thunder on Jan. 8, the meme seemed to go viral with both Gilgeous-Alexander and Mitchell posing in underwear, with one person asking, “Who won the meat-off?”

The matchup in question between the Thunder and Cavaliers marked one of the more thrilling games of the NBA season to date. There were a whopping 30 lead changes, the second-most in a single contest since the start of the campaign. Plenty of people tuned into the game, as it averaged 1.87 million viewers on ESPN.

As the screenshotted Bluesky post indicates, Gilgeous-Alexander was probably the best player on the floor that game, as he dropped a game-high 31 points on 13-of-27 shooting from the field. In fact, he certainly outplayed Mitchell at the very least. Mitchell shot just 3-of-16 from the floor against one of the top defenses in the league and totaled 11 points, tied for the fewest of any player in Cleveland’s starting five.

Ever since Mitchell and company dropped a home game against the Boston Celtics on Feb. 4, there’s a lot to like about how the Cavaliers have played. Cleveland has won every one of its last three contests and is in a tie with the Atlanta Hawks for the longest active winning streak of any team in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers can extend their winning streak to four games with a win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.