Donovan Mitchell not hiding from LeBron James caliber expectations with Cavs

For every young basketball player, the dream is to become the best. It’s to become the face of a franchise and become “the guy.”

For Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell, that dream has become a reality. He’s become the Cavaliers leader and is the guy everyone expects to be the main contributor each night.

Mitchell described the feeling of being “the guy” in Cleveland as surreal after watching LeBron James hold that title for many years.

“You see it growing up and just to be able to be in that spot is something that’s pretty wild to me,” Mitchell said.

Ever since the Cavaliers acquired Mitchell from the Utah Jazz in 2022, the pressure has been on for him to be a star. Cleveland gave up several draft picks and young talent to acquire him, raising expectations even higher.

Mitchell has managed to surpass those expectations. He’s been an All-Star all three seasons with Cleveland, was named All-NBA twice and finished top 10 in MVP voting twice. The only year he wasn’t All-NBA, he did not meet the 65-game minimum.

This year, Mitchell has managed to turn it up even more while the Cavaliers struggle to find footing this season. He is averaging a career-high in points per game, currently sitting at 29.2. He is also having the second-best season of his career passing (5.7 assists per game) and his second-best season rebounding (4.8).

As the Cavaliers continue to improve on the year, going 7-3 in their last 10 games, Mitchell has been the one leading the way. He has scored over 30 points in half of those games, while being over five assists in seven of them.

Comparisons to LeBron are never something to take lightly in Cleveland. Even now, people still debate whether the Cavaliers should try to bring him back. LeBron took the team to five NBA finals, and won the only ring in team history, while becoming the statistical leader in almost every category.

Despite Mitchell’s short time here, he’s begun to find his own way into record books. If he continues at his current pace, he has a chance to be one of the top scorers in Cleveland history. He currently sits at 14th, 1,400 points away from passing Kevin Love for the 10th spot.

Mitchell has proved to be one of the most dominant Cavaliers ever during the regular season.

Now the only thing left for Mitchell to do is prove he can win in the playoffs. He’s consistently put up big numbers, but often came up short. This may be his best chance this season, as Cleveland likely has one more run together with their big four.

If Mitchell can win the city of Cleveland a ring, he’ll truly be remembered as one of Cleveland’s all-time greats.