Cavs' Overreliance on Donovan Mitchell Exposed in Painful Overtime Loss to Hornets
The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t have a Donovan Mitchell problem in the way some teams have “superstar problems.” They have a dependency problem - and Sunday night’s overtime loss to the Charlotte Hornets put it under a glaring spotlight.
Let’s be clear: Mitchell is not the issue. He’s been nothing short of spectacular this season, consistently delivering high-level performances night after night. But when that well runs dry - as it did against Charlotte - the Cavaliers look like a team without a safety net.
Mitchell had a rare off night, shooting just 6-of-24 from the field and a rough 1-of-11 from beyond the arc. After the game, he didn’t hide from the moment.
“I had one of those nights, on a night, on a situation where I’m not allowed to have one of those nights,” Mitchell said. “I feel like if I play better, we win that game. Put this one on me.”
That quote says a lot - and not in a good way for Cleveland. In a healthy, functioning offense, even your top guy should be allowed an off night without the entire system falling apart. The fact that Mitchell feels like he can’t afford to have one speaks volumes about how fragile the Cavs’ structure really is.
This isn’t just about one bad shooting night. It’s about a roster built to contend - with over $200 million in talent - that still needs Mitchell to play superhero just to beat one of the league’s worst teams.
And when he doesn’t? The whole thing crumbles.
That’s the real issue here. The Hornets came into the game near the bottom of the standings, yet Cleveland still needed Mitchell to carry them. Without him at his usual level, the Cavs couldn’t finish the job.
And the dependency doesn’t stop with Mitchell.
Darius Garland, playing through a toe injury that’s clearly still bothering him, put together his best performance of the season with 26 points and 9 assists. But it came at a cost. Garland looked visibly uncomfortable throughout the game, and when asked about the injury afterward, he shut it down quickly:
“I’ve answered all the questions about my toe. I’m not even going to answer any more about my toe.
I’m out there playing. I’m out there for my teammates, trying to win basketball games.”
That’s a competitor talking - no question. But it’s also a red flag.
Garland is clearly gutting it out, and the coaching staff has to recognize when the load is becoming too much. Instead, head coach Kenny Atkinson left Garland on the floor for the entire overtime period, even as the offense sputtered and the team looked gassed.
With Evan Mobley now sidelined for the next few weeks and Max Strus potentially out until the All-Star break, the pressure on Cleveland’s backcourt is only going to ramp up. And that’s a dangerous place to be when your system already leans too heavily on two players - one of whom is banged up, and the other who can’t be expected to play at an All-NBA level every single night.
The Cavs have moments where they look like a contender. But those moments are often condensed into short bursts - a strong quarter here, a late-game Mitchell takeover there. As it stands, they’re too reliant on those stretches of brilliance to win consistently.
This kind of imbalance doesn’t hold up in the postseason. In the playoffs, teams game-plan specifically to take away your primary options. Mitchell has proven he can rise to the occasion in big moments, but if Cleveland can’t even get past a struggling Hornets team without a vintage Mitchell performance, how are they going to handle the Celtics, Bucks, or Sixers in a seven-game series?
The Cavaliers don’t need Mitchell to be less than he is - they need the team to be more than it’s currently showing. That means building a system where Mitchell and Garland can thrive within the offense, not constantly rescue it.
Championship teams don’t rely on fire drills every night. They rely on structure, depth, and adaptability.
Until Cleveland finds that balance, they’ll remain stuck in a dangerous cycle: hoping their stars can carry them - and watching things fall apart when they can’t.