Donovan Mitchell isn’t backing off the ceiling he sees for the Cavaliers after the team added Peyton Watson.
The Cleveland All-Star, fresh off signing a $273 million extension over the summer, pointed directly to Watson as part of the reason he thinks the Cavs can become one of the league’s elite defensive groups. Mitchell said the mix of additions and a full camp together gives Cleveland a real shot to lock in on that end.
“I think we could be a top-five defense. I believe that at our, when I first got here, our first two years we were a top-ten, wasn’t it?
Something like that. I think there’s people we’ve added, like Peyton,” Mitchell said.
“I think a full year of camp and kind of trying not to give too much, but things we’ve added, things we’ve done, I think it kind of helped with that as well. Last year we changed some things, and then also adding James, we were trying to change stuff on the fly.
“I think this year coming in, I’m really excited about what we can do as far as protecting our paint, protecting ourselves, protecting each other out there on the floor. I think we’ll do a better job; that’s for sure.”
Watson arrived in Cleveland after being traded from the Denver Nuggets and then agreed to a four-year, $88 million extension. The wing’s 3-and-D profile is expected to give the Cavs help on both sides of the ball, and his name has already been tied to comparisons after watching New York Knicks’ OG Anunoby’s impact and heroics in the defending champions’ Finals win over the San Antonio Spurs.
For Cleveland, Watson’s arrival is part of the push to build on last season’s 4-0 loss to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Mitchell clearly sees the new piece as more than just a rotation add - he sees him as one of the ingredients that could push the Cavs into that top-five defensive conversation.
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Evan Mobley Debate Just Got Uncomfortable For The Cavs
A speculative Evan Mobley-for-Matas Buzelis trade idea has surfaced in the kind of offseason chatter that always lands a little harder when it involves a cornerstone player. For Cleveland, the premise is uncomfortable because Mobley remains one of the leagues most valuable young defenders, the sort of player who changes the floor on that end even when the offense is still evolving. For Chicago, Buzelis is the more theoretical piece, a young forward whose appeal rests on the belief that his scoring upside can keep growing into something bigger.
The debate gets interesting because both sides can talk themselves into the basketball fit, even if the idea lives entirely in hypotheticals. Cleveland would be weighing whether to move off a proven defensive anchor for a higher-variance offensive swing, while the Bulls would be asking how much patience they have for Buzelis to reach his ceiling. Nothing about this points to real negotiations, but it is the kind of thought experiment that exposes just how delicate the balance is when a team starts wondering whether its best long-term answer is already in hand. [Read more 🡒]
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Proctor has already drawn some attention from Kenny Atkinson, who recently pointed to the guards physical development as part of his progress, and that only adds to the sense that his timeline is moving in the right direction. Porter and Tyson, meanwhile, are still in the category of players whose next step could come from simple but important growth, including greater shooting aggression and more consistency. None of it is finished, but for Cleveland, the possibility that a few young players might meaningfully matter by 2026-27 is the kind of internal upside that can shape a roster more than any outside rumor. [Read more 🡒]
LeBrons Latest Health Concern Changes Clevelands Biggest What-If
LeBron James latest health update has added another layer to the long-running conversation about what might have been in Cleveland. After leaving for Philadelphia for what is expected to be the final two seasons of his career, James is now dealing with chronic arthritis in his left foot and lower-back issues, according to an ESPN report. It is the kind of news that resonates far beyond his current team, because for Cavaliers fans it brings back the familiar mix of admiration and regret that has followed every twist in his late-career arc.
James reportedly monitors the problems daily as part of his training, and last season he missed about a month because of sciatica. For Philadelphia, the concern is obvious: availability always shapes everything around a player at this stage, from rhythm to lineup stability to the larger ceiling of the season. For Cleveland, it only sharpens the old question of how different things might have looked if this version of James, with all the wear and tear that comes with the miles, had been part of the present instead of another teams future. [Read more 🡒]