Cleveland Cavaliers Superstar Drops In Latest MVP Update

Donovan Mitchell falls on a spot in the latest NBA MVP Ladder rankings.

Dec 3, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrates after a play during the first half against the Washington Wizards at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

It's incredible to think that a quarter of the NBA's season has passed, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have only lost four games.

One of the main reasons for that is the production of Donovan Mitchell, who is still an interesting case in the MVP conversation.

NBA.com's Kia MVP Ladder currently lists Mitchell as eighth in the MVP race. This ranking drops one place compared to last week when the Cavalier's superstar guard was listed as editing on their ranking.

The players ahead of Mitchell (in descending order) are Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, Franz Wagner, Karl-Anthony Towns, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokic.

The player who jumped Mitchell in this ranking is Luka Doncic, who's certainly played like an MVP over the last few weeks.

Even with Doncic's emergence over the last week, Mitchell should jump up a spot or two in the next ranking.

Unfortunately, Wagner, who is currently ranked sixth in the MVP race, suffered an oblique injury that could keep him sidelined for a while.

Dec 5, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) reacts in the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images / David Richard-Imagn Images

The biggest thing that Mitchell is missing from his season resume is an all-out scoring takeover. His current season-high is 35 points on two separate occasions coming against the Boston Celtics.

That's nothing compared to some of the MVP leaders, such as Antetokounmpo's 59-point game, Jokic's 56-point performance, or Gilgeous-Alexander's 45-point performance from earlier this season.

We've seen Mitchell take over games before, so one of these scoring night's from now until the end of the season isn't out of the question for him.

Even though Mitchell may not have the individual performance other players on this list do, he certainly has team success on his side, while some of the top contenders currently don't.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays into the MVP conversation as the season progresses.