On Wednesday evening, the Cleveland Cavs continued their winning ways with a blowout home win over the Los Angeles Lakers. The game marked what many thought might be the final game of LeBron James’ career against his former team.
After the game, Cavs guard Jaylon Tyson, who had a big night against the Lakers, raised eyebrows during a postgame interview, when an ESPN reporter asked Donovan Mitchell to characterize James’ impact on the city, to which Tyson responded, “This is Donovan Mitchell’s city now.”
The bold proclamation quickly drew backlash on social media, and in his postgame press conference, Tyson took the opportunity to apologize for the controversy.
“There was no disrespect there. Bron is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. I was a Cavs fan growing up because of him. If I offended anyone, I’m sorry. I take personal responsibility,” said Tyson, per Lakers All Day Everyday on X, formerly Twitter.
Mitchell also responded to the comments.
“As much as I appreciate that, at the end of the day, [LeBron] led the foundation. He’s done a lot for the city, being from here. Obviously you want to replicate that,” he said, per Basket News. “He deserves the energy that he’s got here.”
Obviously, LeBron James is still far and away the biggest figure in Cavs history and will one day have a statue outside of the arena. However, fans were hoping that Mitchell and his teammates would be able to usher in a new era of prosperity in Cleveland this year on the heels of their run to the conference’s number one seed a year ago.
It hasn’t always gone according to plan thus far this year for the Cavs, but the team is slowly but surely putting things together and climbing the standings in the East as the All-Star break approaches.