The Cavaliers are already thinking long-term about Donovan Mitchell, and the message from the front office is clear: they’d love to see No. 45 hang in the rafters someday.
Cleveland president of basketball operations Koby Altman told reporters that the franchise hopes to retire Mitchell’s jersey one day. Mitchell has only been with the Cavaliers since they acquired him from the Utah Jazz before the 2022-23 season, but he’s wasted no time leaving a mark.
In Cleveland, Mitchell is averaging 26.7 points per game in the regular season and 27.3 points per game in the playoffs. He’s a seven-time All-Star, and last season he powered the Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals, the first time the team reached that stage since 1992 without LeBron James. New York swept Cleveland in the conference finals, but the organization still doubled down on Mitchell, giving him a massive extension.
That deal was a four-year, $273 million maximum contract extension signed this offseason.
Mitchell’s scoring résumé already stacks up with the league’s elite. Entering this season, he owns career averages of 25.1 points per game in the regular season and 27.8 in the playoffs across his time with the Jazz and Cavaliers.
Cleveland’s lineup this season also looks loaded on paper. The Cavaliers will start James Harden, Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
The season opens with a marquee matchup in Philadelphia against LeBron and the 76ers. The atmosphere should be electric.
LeBron could have been coming home to pair with Mitchell, but instead he signed a two-year, $8 million deal to join Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia. The 76ers also added former Cavaliers wing Dean Wade.
LeBron’s place in Cleveland and in league history is beyond dispute. He’s the best player in Cavaliers history, and arguably the greatest player ever. He sits first all-time in points, field goals, games and minutes, and he’s the only player in NBA history to rank top five all-time in points and assists, win three Finals MVPs with three teams, reach 40,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists, and score 50,000 combined regular-season and playoff points.
Across his Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers career, LeBron has averages of 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. He’s also a four-time MVP, four-time champion, four-time Finals MVP, one-time scoring champion and one-time assists champion.
Now Mitchell is trying to chase the kind of championship legacy LeBron built in Cleveland. The 2015-16 Cavaliers famously won the 2016 title over the 73-9 Golden State Warriors, and Mitchell will look to do what LeBron did in 2016.
In Other News...
Former Cavs Champion J.R. Smith Is Suddenly Facing Serious Trouble
J.R. Smith, one of the more recognizable names from Clevelands 2016 title run, is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. The former Cavaliers guard was arrested in Hunt County, Texas, on a charge of assault causing bodily injury involving alleged family violence, a jarring development for a player who had recently turned the page into a new chapter after basketball.
Smith was booked into the Hunt County Detention Center, and no bond was listed at the time. The two-time NBA champion had recently completed his college golf career at North Carolina A&T, which made this turn even more startling for fans who remember him as part of a championship core and not as a headline like this one. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Camp Already Has Fans Talking About Mario Hezonja's New Look
Training camp is barely underway, but Mario Hezonja has already become one of the more noticeable additions around the Cavaliers. Cleveland brought in the veteran forward after his return from overseas, and the early buzz has centered on more than just his fit on the floor. With the Cavs also adding Peyton Watson in a sign-and-trade with Denver, the start of camp has given the roster a different look as the team begins sorting out roles for the 2026-27 season.
Jarrett Allen was among the first to comment on Hezonjas physical transformation, which only added to the attention around the newcomer. Hezonja, for his part, has been open about the mindset that brought him back to the league, and that combination of renewed purpose and a changed body has made him an early talking point in camp. For Cleveland, it is the kind of subplot that can matter in a long preseason, especially when a new face arrives with something to prove. [Read more 🡒]
James Harden Just Made Clevelands Peyton Watson Move Look Crucial
Peyton Watsons arrival in Cleveland has already become one of the more interesting subplots of the Cavaliers offseason. The 22-year-old forward came over from Denver in the five-team sign-and-trade on Aug. 19, and his profile only got a bigger boost a day later when James Harden signed on with the Cavaliers, a move that added more weight to the organizations push to reshape the roster.
Watson was introduced by the Cavaliers on Sept. 17 after coming off a career-best season, and the expectation now is that he will have a larger role in Cleveland than he did with the Nuggets. Hardens presence matters here, not just because of the star power, but because he helped recruit Watson in the first place, making the move feel like part of a bigger plan rather than a one-off transaction. [Read more 🡒]