Not only has Donovan Mitchell avoided serious injury. Despite playing through pain during the second half of his team’s hard-fought loss to the Boston Celtics earlier this week, the Cleveland Cavaliers star seems unlikely to miss any time going forward.
Mitchell was a full participant in Cleveland’s practice on Friday after tweaking his groin in the third quarter of the team’s Wednesday loss at T.D. Garden. Coach Bernie Bickerstaff downplayed the severity of Mitchell’s injury, too, while noting the Cavaliers’ medical staff will continue monitoring him.
“All signs are positive right now,” he said, per Tom Withers of the AP. “We’ll see.”
Mitchell crumpled to the floor in obvious pain while driving to the rim with approximately six minutes left in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game. He finished the contest with aplomb regardless, leading a dramatic crunch-time comeback that fell just short while finishing with 44 points.
“There was no coming out of the game for me,” Mitchell said afterwards. “Just trying to find ways to make plays.”
Mitchell’s status was of especially notable concern because he’d previously missed six games in January and February with a groin injury. He also told reporters after the game that his discomfort felt similar to that which he only just overcame in the past few weeks.
Either way, don’t expect Mitchell to be sidelined for long, if at all, as Cleveland continues its quest toward the playoffs. The Cavaliers could sit him for their Saturday matchup with the bottom-dwelling Detroit Pistons as a precautionary measure, but all indications point to Donovan Mitchell being on the floor for Monday’s rematch with the Celtics at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.