Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell and Suns guard Devin Booker have been named Players of the Month for games played in January, the league announced on Thursday (Twitter link).
Mitchell, the Eastern Conference winner, averaged 28.6 PPG, 7.6 APG, 5.2 RPG and 2.1 SPG on .473/.357/.812 shooting last month. He helped lead Cleveland to an 11-2 record in January, despite missing starters Darius Garland and Evan Mobley for most of those games.
Mitchell, 28, is only the second player in Cavs history to be named the East’s Player of the Month, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. LeBron James earned the award 26 times in his two stints with the team.
Booker, the West’s winner, averaged 30.0 PPG, 6.3 APG, 4.4 RPG and 1.1 SPG on .539/.400/.860 shooting in 16 games last month. Phoenix went 11-5 over that span. According to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports (Twitter link), Booker, the reigning Player of the Week, now holds the most Player of the Month awards in Suns franchise history with three, passing several noteworthy players who had two.
According to the NBA, the other nominees in the West were Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaren Jackson Jr., Nikola Jokic, Kawhi Leonard, Lauri Markkanen and Domantas Sabonis, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paolo Banchero, Jalen Brunson, Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner and Coby White were nominated in the East (Twitter links).
I still think the Cavs are better than the Knicks when 100% healthy. These are the two upstarts in the East. Both will be better at end of season imo. Only question is will it be good enough (trades). They may not have enough to go all the way. But Boston and Milwaukee better be be ready. If they play in the playoffs.
The Knicks still have room to improve via trade. The Cavs, I’m less certain. We have no firsts and can’t really trade for a viable target at this point. Our most movable player is LeVert, who is our best bench guy. And he wouldn’t bring back an actual upgrade. Most moves I can see aside from adding an actual backup Center (please get rid of Jones) would be lateral.
Man, I miss Lauri right now. I know we had to trade him for Mitchell, but he’d be so nice to have next to Mitchell and Allen. I’d almost be willing to orchestrate a huge trade with Mobley and Garland to get him back tbh. As long as we got a proper return in addition to Lauri. Would be too crazy of a swing to actually do (even for a trade maniac) but it would be cool on paper.
I’m also just… so happy for Knicks fans, tbh. You all have been though a lot over the years, and now you have a team worth fighting for again. Not just a perennial first round exit at best.
I know Cavs fans love the guy but they’re 17-7 without Garland and 12-9 with him this season and 11-2 without him last season. Perhaps they should look into trading him. I think he’d get a very good haul in return.
I wouldn’t trade Mobley though.
I look at Cavs as still a young team coming together. They should improve from within. You get what I’m saying. I like their young guys. They are serious talent. DM is my guy.
The Cavs should have traded Mobley instead of Lauri, but I guess hindsight is 20/20