Donovan Mitchell keeps stacking up respect, and Bleacher Report has him right in the middle of the NBA’s elite shooting conversation heading into the 2026-27 season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers guard came in at No. 13 on the outlet’s list of the league’s best shooters, sitting just ahead of Detroit Pistons guard Duncan Robinson and just behind Dallas Mavericks guard and former Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving.
Mitchell’s reputation from deep is backed by the numbers. He’s a career 36.6% shooter from 3-point range, and his 71-point eruption against the Chicago Bulls in the 2022-23 season came with him going 7-of-15 from beyond the arc.
Since landing in Cleveland in 2022, Mitchell has been the engine of the offense. He’s averaging 26.7 points per game in the regular season and 27.3 points per game in the playoffs in a Cavaliers uniform. Over his NBA career with both the Jazz and Cavaliers, he owns averages of 25.1 points per game in the regular season and 27.8 in the playoffs.
That production has already translated into team success. The seven-time All-Star led Cleveland to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the franchise’s first trip there since 1992 without LeBron James. The run ended with a sweep at the hands of the New York Knicks, but the Cavaliers still showed how strongly they feel about Mitchell by giving him a massive extension.
He signed a four-year, $273 million maximum contract extension this offseason, and he addressed the deal at Cavaliers Media Day.
"I think the biggest thing was actions speak louder than words," Mitchell said. "I was just talking to one of the radio guys about it and they were like, 'Why do you think people didn't believe you?'
I said a lot of that probably predates me. There are a lot of things that have happened beforehand.
For me, I get it. I'm not offended by those things, but for me, showing is better than telling.
I'm here."
Now Mitchell heads into another season with a chance to chase something Cleveland hasn’t done since 2016. The Cavaliers won that championship by taking down the 73-9 Golden State Warriors, and Mitchell will try to lead this group back to the same level.
Cleveland opens the season against LeBron and the 76ers in Philadelphia, a matchup that should bring plenty of energy. The idea of LeBron returning to play with Mitchell would have made for a different kind of storyline, but King James instead signed a two-year, $8 million deal to join Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia.
LeBron’s place in Cleveland history is already secure. He’s the best player in Cavaliers history and, as the source notes, arguably the greatest player of all time. He leads NBA history in points, field goals, games and minutes, and he’s the only player to rank top five all-time in points and assists, win three Finals MVPs with three teams, post 40,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists, and reach 50,000 combined regular-season and playoff points.
There’s another number Cleveland fans may eventually see hanging in the rafters alongside No. 23. Koby Altman said the franchise hopes to retire Mitchell’s No. 45 jersey one day.
The Cavaliers also added Peyton Watson after LeBron went to the 76ers, bringing him in on a four-year, $88 million deal through a sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets. That contract includes a player option and a trade kicker. Last season, Watson averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 49.1% from the field, 41.1% from 3 and 73.0% from the free-throw line, numbers that helped cement his standing as one of the league’s top two-way wings.
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