Donovan Mitchell has become the lightning rod in Cleveland, but the argument swirling around him is upside down. The Cavaliers guard is getting crushed online, with fans calling for a trade and blaming him for everything from stalled offense to missed championship chances. The complaint keeps landing in the same place: too much Mitchell, not enough everyone else.
But the numbers and the role tell a different story. Mitchell’s field goal attempts and usage rate are both at career lows to open the season, while his assist percentage and shot chart look almost the same as they have in previous years.
In other words, he’s not suddenly taking over the offense more than ever. If anything, he has less control than he’s had before.
That disconnect helps explain why the frustration has grown. Mitchell has always been more scorer than passer, and he currently sits in the 41st percentile in assist-to-usage ratio, a stat that measures how often a player ends a possession with an assist instead of a shot or turnover. So when he’s on the ball, it can still feel like he’s dominating possessions, even if the bigger picture says otherwise.
That’s where the criticism has come from, especially after last year’s playoffs and into this season. Fans keep asking why Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen aren’t getting more touches, why leads vanish, and why Cleveland still hasn’t broken through after such a strong regular season. Mitchell’s playmaking gets singled out for all of it.
And yes, that part is real. Cleveland has lost big games before because of Mitchell’s shot selection.
He doesn’t always make the right decision with the ball, and that can be maddening to watch. But the answer isn’t to turn him into something he isn’t.
Mitchell isn’t a point guard. He may never need to be one.
Championship teams can survive with stars who have clear limitations. Shai-Gilgeous Alexander was in the 29th percentile for assist-to-usage ratio when the Oklahoma City Thunder won the championship, and he’s in the 0th percentile now.
Giannis Antetokounmpo never learned how to shoot. Nikola Jokic never became an elite defender.
And the New York Knicks didn’t win a championship last June because Jalen Brunson became a master playmaker; they won because Karl-Anthony Towns took on more of that responsibility, freeing Brunson to do what he does best.
That’s the model Cleveland should be chasing. The Cavs need someone else to handle more of the playmaking burden so Mitchell can stay in his lane as a scorer.
Darius Garland was the cleanest fit for that idea. For a stretch, he made the whole thing hum, moving the defense and letting Mitchell attack against a defense already scrambling. That setup helped Cleveland reach 64 wins, but Garland couldn’t stay healthy.
James Harden became the next option. He’s been available more often than Garland, and that helped push the team to an Eastern Conference Finals run.
But his style is different. Harden plays slower and more heliocentric, which cuts down on the kind of stationary spacing Mitchell thrives in.
It takes away some of Mitchell’s best work as a slasher attacking gaps.
So now the conversation has drifted into asking Mitchell to become more of a playmaker. That’s the wrong lesson. The better answer is to build around what he actually is.
That doesn’t mean Mitchell should ignore the other four Cavaliers on the floor. He still has to pass, and he still has to know when to assert himself as a scorer.
The balance matters. But Cleveland can’t force him into a role that doesn’t fit.
Mitchell will never be a point guard, and trying to make him one is a dead end. The Cavs have to accept him as a high-volume scorer and build the rest of the offense accordingly.
They know what he can do when the games get tight. Mitchell can go nuclear in the playoffs.
The question is who can handle the organizing around that. The Cavs are still hoping Harden can be that guy, with extra help from Mobley if it comes.
Whether that’s enough is fair to question.
Still, the larger truth is simple: winning a title is brutally hard. Cleveland had the greatest player alive for 11 seasons and only got there once. This group would need a lot to break right, and even then, it might not be enough.
That’s why the priority should be identity, not imitation. Being a flawed version of somebody else gets you nowhere. Being the best version of yourself gives you a chance.
Mitchell doesn’t need to become Cleveland’s lead playmaker. He needs to be Cleveland’s world-class scorer.
The offense should be built around getting him his shot, because that’s where his value lives. Passing matters, but it comes second.
The big shots will decide whether the Cavs rise or fall, and that was the difference between Mitchell and Brunson last season.
The ideal superstar does everything. But teams don’t get to order that off a menu.
Cleveland has a dynamic scorer, not a floor general. The smartest path is to accept that and let the supporting cast absorb the playmaking load.
That’s the realistic route forward. It may be the only one.
In Other News...
Cavs Quieted Early Doubts With Help From An Unexpected Rotation Boost
The Cavaliers answered an early test against Philadelphia with the kind of effort that usually travels well in the postseason conversation: physical rebounding, connected defense and enough shot-making from Donovan Mitchell to keep control of the game. Cleveland had the edge on the glass and made life difficult for the Sixers for long stretches, a good sign for a team still sorting out how its rotation pieces fit together after a recent trade added another layer to the mix.
Peyton Watson was a big part of that stability, giving Cleveland a useful two-way boost in his latest outing and helping slow down Tyrese Maxey on the perimeter. Mitchell supplied the steadying offense with 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and the Cavaliers got contributions across the lineup to protect the lead and finish the job, even as the bigger question remains how much of this version can hold up once the schedule tightens. [Read more 🡒]
Kenny Atkinson Revisits The Cavs Quote Fans Never Forgot
Kenny Atkinson spent part of the week revisiting a line from the previous Eastern Conference Finals that stuck with fans long after the series ended. The comment came when his team was already down 0-3, and he said the point he was trying to make was about expected wins and the broader context of the question, not a claim that his group had somehow earned a better result.
Atkinson also used the moment to underline something coaches often say but rarely get to explain in detail: analytics matter, but so do mental and physical toughness when the games get tight and the season gets heavy. For Cleveland, it is another reminder that the margins in the postseason are shaped by more than numbers, even if one old quote still has a way of following a coach around. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Just Got A Frustrating Knicks Reminder They Couldn't Ignore
The Cavaliers left Madison Square Garden with a 109-97 loss and a familiar kind of frustration, the sort that can linger because it was built on more than one bad stretch. Donovan Mitchell poured in 37 points, but most of that damage came late, after the game had already tilted the wrong way, and Cleveland spent much of the night trying to dig out of an early hole against a Knicks team that looked more physical from the start.
New Yorks edge was felt in the places Cleveland usually wants to control, with extra possessions and loose balls turning into a steady problem the Cavs never solved. James Harden had a rough night offensively, going 2-for-9 and finishing at minus-23, which only added to the reminder that this matchup can get away from Cleveland quickly when the other team wins the hustle battle and forces the Cavs to chase instead of dictate. [Read more 🡒]