Cavaliers Player Apologizes for LeBron James Dig After Viral ‘Donovan Mitchell City’ Quote

Jaylon Tyson said Cleveland is “Donovan Mitchell city” after the Cavaliers beat LeBron James and the Lakers in what was perhaps James’s final game at Rocket Arena.

Jaylon Tyson quickly backtracked off of his quote about Cleveland now being Donovan Mitchell’s city after the Cavaliers blew out LeBron James and the Lakers. | David Richard-Imagn Images

Jaylon Tyson was fired up after his Cavaliers dominated LeBron James and the Lakers, 129–99, on Wednesday night. He admits he may have done a bit too much during a postgame interview, given the context of the game for James, the greatest player in Cavaliers history, however.

After the game, ESPN's Jorge Sedano asked Donovan Mitchell about it potentially being James’s last game in Cleveland, and Tyson opted to chime in first.

“This is Donovan Mitchell’s city now, it’s Donovan Mitchell’s city now,” Tyson said. “When he comes back here, we’re going to make sure that everybody roots for him like they did for [James]. This is his city.”

While Mitchell is becoming a beloved Cavaliers star, there were still plenty of James jerseys in the stands last night—of both the Cleveland and Los Angeles varieties. The franchise also recognized the gravity of James’s potential final game against the Cavaliers, running a video tribute ahead of the game that had LeBron a bit choked up.

After being a bit more removed from the emotions of the game, Tyson thought better of slighting James, walking the statement back.

“There was no disrespect there,” Tyson told reporters, per Cleveland.com, “I didn’t want to disrespect or step on nobody’s toes. That’s one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Obviously, I was a Cavs fan growing up because of [James]. I didn’t want to take away [from] him, but I just wanted to give Don his flowers. That was my biggest goal in it. And if I offended anybody or anybody got mad about it, I’m sorry. I take personal responsibility, but I just wanted to give the man his flowers because we want to do the same thing that Bron and them did here. We want to do that with him as our leader.”

Mitchell echoed the idea that the currrent Cavaliers are trying to return the franchise to the heights to which James led it.

“At the end of the day, [James] laid the foundation,” Mitchell said. “They’ve done a lot for the city, being from here. Obviously, you want to replicate that. You know what I’m saying? So he deserves the energy that he’s got here. At the end of the day, first title in 50-something years. For us, we’re trying to do—obviously differently—but like, at the end of the day, we’re trying to find ways to go out there and bring the city another championship.”

Mitchell led Cleveland with 25 points on 9-of-20 shooting in the win, while Tyson chipped in 20 points on 8-of-15 from the floor. James was held to 11 points in 27 minutes.

After the game, the future Hall of Famer acknowledged that “it very well could be” his final game in Cleveland. Rumors of James’s future have swirled throughout the season, and picked up Wednesday after an ESPN report that the Cavaliers would welcome him back for a third tenure in his home state if he wants to play one more season before retirement. That appears to be a big “if” however, given James’s candid acknowledgements that 2025–26 could be his final NBA season.

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