Donovan Mitchell defends Cleveland after Sophie Cunningham jab

With rumors surrounding the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA, there is some talk about a team in the city in regards to the ever-growing WNBA. Despite a crushing playoff exit for Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers, the team had enormous success, which only a WNBA team could continue to grow the city, though there could be some argument from a certain star in the women’s league.

Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham would be asked about the WNBA’s announcement to expand to 18 teams, which includes cities like Philadelphia, Detroit, and Cleveland. Cunningham would question players wanting to go to the city, as the star in Mitchell would respond on social media, hyping up Cleveland.

“Cleveland in the summertime,” Mitchell wrote with two fire emojis after on X, formerly Twitter.

Mitchell has been with Cleveland since 2022 and has expressed his love for the team and city, so seeing him respond shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell defends the city 

Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

With athletes like Mitchell and LeBron James highlighting the Cavaliers‘ basketball history, Cleveland is sure to be a city that could house a women’s basketball team and be successful. However, Cunningham would question it and say, “I don’t know how excited people are to be going” to Cleveland, even mentioning Detroit there as well.

“Like, where do they want to play? Where are they going to get excited to play and draw fans? I think Miami would have been a great one. Everyone loves Florida,” Cunningham said. “Nashville is an amazing city. Kansas City — amazing opportunity. There’s a huge arena downtown that no one’s using,” Cunningham added Tuesday afternoon. “I’m not so sure what the thought process is there.

“At the end of the day, you don’t want to expand our league too fast,” Cunningham continued. “We don’t want teams to totally dominate, and some that aren’t. It’s a hard situation, but, man, I don’t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or [Cleveland].”

At any rate, Cleveland will be getting a WNBA team, starting play in 2028.