Cavs Stars Mitchell, Harden, Plenty Others, Will Sit Out Regular Season Finale

If you're planning to attend Sunday evening's Wizards - Cavaliers regular season finale you may want to spring for a game program. Failing to do so will likely result in quite a few subtle but unwanted elbows to your seat neighbor while asking "who's that guy," and "when did we sign him?"

Sans hot dogs, nachos and beers, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden will look more like paying spectators in the Rocket Arena lower bowl than hoopers.

That's because both Mitchell and Harden, along with a whole bunch of other Cavs, will sit out the finale. It's all but a meaningless game for the Cavs, who have already locked up the Eastern Conference's fourth seed and can move neither up or down the playoff bracket based on Sunday's outcome.

In place of Mitchell and Harden, Cavs fans and Wizards fans (assuming some still exist) should see a backcourt of mostly Craig Porter Jr. and rookie Tyrese Proctor.

Cavs newbies Olivier Sarr and Riley Minix are expected to play extended minutes.

Hard to believe StubHub has a get-in price of only $19 to witness these Cavaliers battle for loose balls with Wizards, who own the NBA's worst record, like Anthony Gill, Leaky Black, and Will Riley.

Again, get yourself a program. Thank me later.

The Cavaliers that will be joining Harden and Mitchell on the sideline Sunday include Jarrett Allen, Keon Ellis, Evan Mobley, Thomas Bryant, Sam Merrill, Dean Wade and Dennis Schroder.

Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith are also out as they gear up for a postseason run.

Kidding.

But if you've recently started a game for the Cavs, you're probably not playing on Sunday evening versus Washington.

Ellis and Bryant have minor injuries that would likely have sidelined them even if regular season game number 82 had meaning. Harden and Schroder's absences are designated as "rest," and Allen, Merrill, Mitchell, Mobley and Wade are out because of what is being deemed "injury maintenance."

Cleveland's injury report - along with most NBA teams' Sunday lineups - should provide the fellas over at Inside the NBA will plenty of end of season content. Charles Barkley's "Who he play for" segment was built for nights like Sunday.

Did I mention that Sunday's Cavs game is the franchise's "Fan Appreciation Game?"

Maybe this isn't the best way to say "thank you" to the Wine and Gold faithful, but all will be forgiven if an extra night of R&R enables these Cavaliers to piece together a deep playoff run. That run starts either Saturday, April 18 or Sunday, April 19, at home, when Cleveland plays host to either the Hawks or Raptors based on Sunday's results.