Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell seems interested in LeBron James returning to the Cavs for a third and final time.
When asked during the All-Star festivities about James possibly signing with the Cavaliers this coming offseason to finish his career with the same team that drafted him in 2003, Mitchell seemed enthusiastic about the idea, although he made sure to explain the importance of his team looking too far ahead when several months of basketball still to be played before then.
“As a Bron fan, man, to be able to be a teammate, obviously that would be special. But that’s not something that is [in] my control. I control what we got here,” Mitchell said on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “There’s always going to be reports, it’s natural, it’s going to be a thing. But at the end of the day, to your point, my main focus is trying to get this championship. And whatever happens [with LeBron], it happens. That’s not up to me. It’s not up to anybody else in the locker room.
“I’m big on believing what I control, but yeah, it’s LeBron James. But at the end of the day, that’s not my focus. I’m not here to worry about that. I know that I’m gonna get asked that a bunch all weekend, but my focus is, we just traded for James Harden, Dennis Schroder, and Keon Ellis — hey, let’s find a way to get a ring and go from there.”
James, the only player in league history to play 23 NBA seasons, is 41 years old and, according to some rumors, is eyeing a third stint with the Cavs amid a tenuous relationship with his current team, the Los Angeles Lakers. James previously played in Cleveland from 2003 to 2010 and 2014 to 2018, the latter stay of which he led the Cavaliers to their first and, to date, only championship.
At the end of each of the stints, James left, in part, because he felt the Cavs could not compete to the degree that he wanted. In 2010, in particular, he departed Cleveland and signed with the Miami Heat, which paired him with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, forming a ‘Big 3’ that won two championships and reached the NBA Finals four times in as many years. After returning to Cleveland in free agency in 2024, James led the Cavs to another four straight Finals, all of which were against the Golden State Warriors. In 2016, James was named Finals MVP after a historic 3-1 series comeback.
Since James signed with the Lakers in 2018, he has won an additional championship (in 2020), and the Cavaliers, who won a combined 60 games in the three seasons afterward, have built themselves into an Eastern Conference contender, albeit an underwhelming one. Despite three straight playoff appearances and a conference-best 64 wins last season, Cleveland has yet to get past the second round since 2018, when James was on the team.
The Cavs are set to return from the All-Star break on Thursday with a home game vs. the moribund Brooklyn Nets. Cleveland had won its last five games and 10 of its last 11 before the break.