Donovan Mitchell Admits Hard Truth About Cleveland Cavaliers

Instead, the wine and gold saw its championship dreams dashed by way of a gentleman's sweep in the conference semifinals against the Indiana Pacers. In turn, what was once a historic season will now be remembered as a failure in the eyes of many.

As star guard Donovan Mitchell noted in his postgame press conference Tuesday night, Cleveland isn't going to get much respect moving forward. He's right. And one day later, he admitted another harsh truth about how the team will be viewed moving forward.

"In all honesty, [nothing will] matter until April," Mitchell said. "I think we know that. I've been saying it, I think we know that and feel that. Like I said, y'all gonna write us off. We could go 82-0, no one will care."

It's the unfortunate reality that Mitchell has clearly accepted about how his team going into the 2025-26 campaign. Nothing this team does between the months of October and April will matter in the eyes of most fans and pundits who cover the sport. They have to prove it in the postseason.

While that may be considered unfair in some respects, Mitchell embraces the fact that these criticisms come with the territory of being a star athlete at the highest level.

"That's the way it is," he asserted. "Life ain't fair, you know? We are very blessed to be in this position, do what we do. If the criticism, one of the pressures or things that we have are us getting killed over this, you gotta get criticized somewhere. It just is what it is. It is a blessing to be able to play this game, but you gotta take what comes with it.

"I've been saying it to you all year. 64 wins is cool, but we only won what, five games in the playoffs. We deserve it. We deserve it. We didn't hold up our end."

Mitchell has done nothing but take accountability for the team's unceremonious end. It's exactly the type of messaging fans generally want to hear from their best players. It's also likely to serve as a source of motivation for Mitchell and the team as they look to exercise their postseason demons next season.

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