Donovan Mitchell is not going anywhere else. The Land is still and will be his NBA address for years to come after the Cavs star shooting guard agreed to a three-year extension contract worth $150.3 million with the Cleveland Cavaliers, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski Tuesday morning.
Shortly after the news of the deal broke out, Mitchell posted the perfect reaction to it via his X (formerly Twitter) account, using his photo during a game against the Orlando Magic (probably taken during the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs) and a clip of the famous “I’m not leaving” scene in the 2013 Martin Scorsese film The Wolf of Wall Street.
Donovan Mitchell is here to stay
Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Indeed, Donovan Mitchell is not leaving and Cavs fans have every reason to celebrate the news.
Mitchell would have become an unrestricted free agent by the end of the 2024-25 NBA season without an extension. But now the Cavaliers are guaranteed to have one of the best scorers in the league for at least until the conclusion of the 2027-28 campaign. Mitchell can prolong his stay in Cleveland if he picks up his player option for the 2027-28 season, but that’s something that he doesn’t have to think about right now.
For Donovan Mitchell, he’s just happy that the negotiation is over and all that there is left for him to do is to put ink on paper for the deal to become official. Signing an extension with Cleveland was always the intention of Mitchell despite all the rumors pointing to the opposite direction, and he doubled down on that notion with a video post via Instagram Story after finalizing his newest deal.
“The whole year I’ve been saying the same s**t, say how much I like it, every day it’s like, oh he gonna do this, he gonna do that. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. I think it’s hilarious. Here’s what it is. I’m glad I got this s**t done, man. I’m glad I got this s**t done, please. I like the focus, you know what I’m saying? It’s good to it,” Mitchell said while driving.
The Cavs acquired Donovan Mitchell during the 2022 NBA offseason via a shocking trade with the Utah Jazz. In that deal, the Jazz got Ochai Agbaji, Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, and some picks in return. Cleveland made the playoffs in each of Mitchell’s first two seasons with the Cavaliers and they seem to be among the safer bets in the Eastern Conference to make the postseason anew. So far in his Cleveland stint, Mitchell has put together averages of 27.5 points, 5.2 assists, and 4.6 rebounds while posting a 47.5 field goal percentage and 37.8 percent success rate on his threes.
The Cavs still have the core of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen to lead the team. Speaking of Mobley, he could be next in line to get a huge extension contract from Cleveland, as he’s about to become a restricted free agent by the end of the next season.
Mitchell’s deal with the Cavaliers came just after Cleveland had found a new head coach in Kenny Atkinson, who succeeds JB Bickerstaff. Those are two major items the Cavs have crossed out on their offseason priority list, as they look to bounce back stronger in the next season.
