The Cavaliers’ big question isn’t about scheme, spacing or who’s getting the late-clock shots. It’s something much bigger, and a lot more uncomfortable: can Donovan Mitchell really be the guy who carries Cleveland all the way to a title?
That’s the conversation Cleveland has walked into after another rough start, because the organization has spent years building around Mitchell as if the answer was already yes. He’s a gifted scorer, a proven playoff shot-maker and the engine of the offense.
Nobody’s arguing that. The issue is whether superstar production and championship leadership are the same thing.
So far, the evidence says they’re not.
Cleveland brought in James Harden to be Mitchell’s No. 2, and that move only makes sense if Mitchell is the kind of No. 1 who can set the tone for a contender. Right now, that assumption looks shakier than ever.
Mitchell’s track record in Utah is where the doubts really took root. In 2018-19, the Jazz won 50 games and then got bounced in five games by Houston, with Mitchell shooting just 32.1 percent from the field. The next year brought another letdown: Utah went 44-28 in the shortened season, then blew a 3-1 lead against Denver even though Mitchell put up 36.3 points per game.
The strongest case against him came in 2020-21. Utah finished 52-20, had the NBA’s best record and owned the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed.
With Rudy Gobert anchoring the defense and Mitchell driving the offense, the Jazz looked built for a deep run. Instead, they lost four straight to the Clippers after taking a 2-0 series lead, and Los Angeles closed them out without Kawhi Leonard in the final two games.
The pattern didn’t stop there. Utah won 49 games in 2021-22 and still fell in the first round to Dallas.
These weren’t teams scraping for relevance. They were real playoff threats, including one that finished first in the league, and none of them got past the conference semifinals.
That kind of repeated ending eventually becomes part of the player evaluation.
Cleveland hoped a change of scenery would change the story. It hasn’t yet.
Mitchell’s first Cavaliers season ended with a five-game playoff loss to New York. In 2024, Cleveland reached the second round before Boston knocked it out.
Then came another second-round exit in 2025 against Indiana.
Last season finally got the Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals, but that trip ended in a sweep at the hands of the Knicks. Mitchell has still put up strong numbers throughout these runs, and it would be wrong to pin everything on him. Injuries, defensive issues and uneven help have all played a part.
Even so, the league’s top No. 1 options are supposed to push through that kind of mess. They don’t just post big numbers and watch the season end early again and again. Cleveland has shuffled the roster, adjusted the supporting cast and invested in other pieces, but the breakthrough still hasn’t come.
That’s why Harden’s arrival matters here. At 37, he wasn’t brought in to be the face of the franchise.
He was supposed to support Mitchell, help run the offense and give Cleveland another reliable scorer. That’s the job of a No.
The problem is that if Mitchell belongs in that same category, then the Cavaliers have a much bigger issue than Harden’s decline.
At 4-4, this pairing has not looked anything like the championship setup Cleveland imagined. Harden deserves his share of the criticism, but Mitchell doesn’t get to disappear from the discussion just because his teammate has struggled too.
If he’s truly the No. 1, the Cavaliers need more than scoring bursts and playoff flashes. They need the kind of steady force that turns a good team into a real threat.
Eight games won’t settle his career, and last season’s conference finals run does leave room for belief. But the longer this pattern goes on, the harder it is for Cleveland to ignore the question hanging over everything: the Cavaliers already have their No. 2 in James Harden. Do they actually have their No. 1 in Donovan Mitchell?
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