Donovan Mitchell isn’t exactly someone fans look at as an injury-prone player. But he has dealt with a myriad of injuries throughout the 2023-24 season, with the latest knock keeping him out of action being a knee injury. It’s unclear when Mitchell will be returning for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but it looks like he’s on track to miss a bit more time after missing his sixth straight contest on Monday night in a loss to the Phoenix Suns.
In fact, Mitchell’s absences have piled up to the point where he’s no longer eligible to win individual awards this season. By being absent during the Cavs’ 117-111 defeat against the Suns, Spida has now missed 18 games, as Brett Siegel, NBA reporter for ClutchPoints, pointed out. As a result, he won’t be able to play in the minimum number of games required to make an All-NBA team or to win the MVP award.
The NBA instituted the 65-game minimum this past offseason to discourage blatant load management, but all it did was put pressure on players to suit up even though they’re less than 100 percent. Fortunately for the Cavs, this hasn’t happened for Donovan Mitchell, as the team has erred on the side of caution when it comes to Mitchell’s recovery from his different injuries.
This season is shaping up to be the most injury-riddled of Mitchell’s career. He has already missed 18 games; the most he has missed in a single campaign is 19 back in the 2020-21 season, although an ankle injury was the main culprit of his absence. This season, Spida has dealt with a hamstring issue, groin soreness, his current knee injury, and a variety of illnesses, which, at the very least, are isolated injury cases and aren’t at all caused by one or the other.
Losing out on individual awards after making the All-NBA Second Team will be a tough blow for Donovan Mitchell, but what’s important is that he returns to 100 percent at the soonest. There is no concrete timeline yet as to when Mitchell will be returning to the hardwood. What we do know at this point is that Mitchell is closer to a return than Evan Mobley is.
