Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman expressed optimism that the club will reach an extension agreement with star guard Donovan Mitchell this offseason, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
Altman and new head coach Kenny Atkinson visited Mitchell this past weekend in Los Angeles when the guard hosted a summer camp.
“We feel good about Donovan,” Altman said. “He’s in a great space mentally. He’s healthy. He was out there with those young high school players, hooping in a really good space. Really enjoyed the fact that him and Kenny could sit down and talk about the future, talk about the team. He is still under contract right now, so I think we can talk about him as a Cavalier. He’s invested. He’s really invested in what we’re doing, and hopefully soon we’ll have more of a decisive answer on [a contract extension] for you. But he’s been great. He’s been super involved and super collaborative and very, very much pro-Cleveland.”
Mitchell is eligible to sign a four-year, $200MM+ extension as early as Saturday (July 6), when the league’s moratorium ends. A new deal would see the see the 27-year-old decline his $37.1MM player option for 2025/26. He’ll make $35.41MM in ’24/25.
Mitchell’s involvement with the franchise this offseason included his input during the Cavs’ coaching search. He had a conversation with Atkinson and at least one other candidate during the search, according to Fedor. Mitchell endorsed the hiring of the former Warriors assistant.
Atkinson said they connected on a personal level. That’s a key, since Mitchell reportedly was unhappy with former coach J.B. Bickerstaff last season over a number of issues.
“We had a great sitdown,” Atkinson said. “We also have a little bit of East Coast, similar backgrounds. We didn’t grow up far from each other really, if you think about it.”
If Mitchell decides not to sign an extension, Cleveland would look into potential trades, Fedor writes. However, he says all the momentum is headed in the other direction.
Mitchell hates, absolutely hates, being coached.
The problem is he has poor shot selection as evidence by his low shooting percentage, that gets worse in Q4.
He needs a coach who can get him to play team ball in order to take it to the next level, but he is more concerned about being an army of one.
Any coach who tries to get him to play with the team will not get along with him.
His slash with the Cavs is 47/37/87. I don’t think that’s indicative of poor shot selection. I think they need to address the Mobley/Allen dilemma which could resume itself if Mobley focused more on his jump shot
It’s Mitchell’s job to score. Like KnicksFan said he doesn’t have a low shooting percentage, especially for a scoring guard. He, Garland and LeVert are the only guys in the team that can consistently create their own shot. Garland seems like he prefers to defer. Mitchell was encouraging Garland to take more shots in the playoffs and at .421/.325 LeVert probably shouldn’t shoot as much as he does.
Why didn’t he join the Hawks?
Young for Mitchell
Mitchell doesn’t have many good alternatives to signing the extension, even if he prefers to be elsewhere. I think both sides know that. So, why hasn’t he signed?
Did you read?
Of course, that’s what made my question an obvious one. But I guess not to the uninitiated.
Miami’s always an option since they need scoring bad. It’s been reported that’s a place he’d want to be if he leaves
Knicks moves had to have ticked him off. No chance of becoming a Knick now.