Donovan Mitchell Hasn’t Slept Since Cavs Lost Game 5 To Pacers, Watched Game Twice

Mitchell has never been to the conference finals. He just finished his third season with the Cavaliers. 

Cleveland lost to the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, lost to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2024 playoffs and lost to the Pacers in the second round of this year’s postseason. 

Mitchell gave everything he had in the Pacers series. He wasn’t even close to 100%, but the All-Star shooting guard still averaged 34.2 points.  

“Just couldn’t believe it,” Mitchell said. “Didn’t want to believe it, don’t want to believe it, still don’t want to believe it. It’s tough. It’s tough to win in this league. Give them credit — we didn’t do the things necessary.

“I told you all during the year, we’re going to be judged by this. There will be a lot of talk. That’s what comes with it. Didn’t capitalize. So now we gotta use this as motivation. Everybody’s gonna write us off, everybody in here. It’s not personal, (but) what are we going to do about it next year?”

Mitchell had a great year for the Cavaliers. He averaged 24.0 points in the regular season and 29.6 points in the postseason. No one can blame him for the Cavaliers going home early. 

“We were 0-3 at home, man,” Mitchell said. “Let the city down. This place is special, this place is really special.”

There will be no Mitchell trade rumors this summer. He wants to finish his career in Cleveland. 

However, the roster around him needs to improve. Some around the league believe Jarrett Allen and/or Darius Garland need to be traded. 

Evan Mobley isn’t going anywhere, so we don’t need to put him in trade proposals.