Despite Trade Buzz, Donovan Mitchell's Actions Show Cavs He's A Leader
Since the Cleveland Cavaliers found out last Friday that they had lost two members of their Core Four for an extended period of time, reports around the NBA have flooded in about Donovan Mitchell's future with the team.
It's a fair question, but Mitchell respectfully declines to comment on the matter in-season as the wine-and-gold try to navigate the campaign and an adverse period of time without Darius Garland and Evan Mobley.
Instead of adding any fuel to the fire, the Cavs star guard has had ten toes down in the present. Monday night was just another example.
Mitchell played 45 minutes in Cleveland's overtime win over the Houston Rockets, notching 37 points, six assists, two blocks and a rebound. Even more impressively, he did that without sitting for a single minute coming out of the locker room at half.
"I just think it's time for us to start winning, to be honest," Mitchell said of why it was important to take on the heavy load of minutes. "And I think for me, kind of putting myself out there, I had some defensive lapses that kind of pissed me off. But being there, being that leader and being the leader for the guys, and they trust me with that. And I think coach trusts me with that. Everybody trusts me with that."
After a slow start in the first half by his standards, going all-in the rest of the way without a breather was by design on his part.
"I told J.B. [Bickerstaff] at halftime: I'm good to go the full second half and then overtime," Mitchell said. "Not necessarily going out there just to try to score, but just sometimes it's [to] go stand in the corner and they're not helping, [or] guys [are] helping. So just my presence, the gravity that I create, understanding that throughout the game, whether it's on the ball, off the ball. Get in there trying to wreak havoc defensively. And I think my teammates have my back with that.
"That's the biggest thing. That's dope. Going out there and saying that and having the full support of everybody, I think that's something that I really want to do. My teammates' support and my coaches. It's not going to be like that every night, but on a night like tonight gets a gutty [Rockets] team like this, I felt like it was needed."
Dec 18, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) dribbles the ball in the first quarter against the Houston Rockets at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Nobody has a crystal ball when it comes to predicting what's going to happen with Mitchell and the Cavs down the road, but at this moment, the star guard's attitude and commitment to the organization that traded for him last year is commendable.
