NBA Trade Rumors: Cleveland Cavaliers remove themselves from the sweepstakes for 3x All-Star
Despite their season ending with a play-in tournament exit, the Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the NBA's brightest stories. Led by a group of young players, they managed to completely outperform their expectations. After finishing with 22 wins in 2021, the Cavs doubled their win total in just one year's time.
Following its impressive season, Cleveland looks ready to take the next step towards contending. Throughout the summer, the Cavs have been linked to one of the hottest names in the trade market. However, Ian Begley of SNY reported that the Cavaliers are no longer in the mix for Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell.
The Cavs have removed themselves from Donovan Mitchell trade talks, per @IanBegley https://t.co/04JoBSCsng
This summer, the Jazz decided it was time for a major shakeup. Their first big change was sending All-Star center Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a massive haul of players and assets. Now, they've begun fielding offers for their star guard.
Mitchell, 25, is getting ready to enter the prime of his career. Last season, he averaged 25.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists. On top of that, the three-time All-Star is only in the second year of a five-year max contract.
Should the Cleveland Cavaliers make a push for Donovan Mitchell?
Some might want a team like the Cavaliers to pursue Donovan Mitchell more aggressively, but staying put is the right move. It's clear they've built a strong culture in Cleveland and shouldn't be in a rush to change after how they performed last season.
One of the main reasons why the Cavaliers had the level of success they did was the play of Darius Garland. The 22-year-old had a career year en route to making his first All-Star team. In 68 games, he averaged 21.7 ppg and 8.6 apg. Both are the highest marks of his three-year career.
Darius Garland is legitimately becoming one of the best pull up three point shooters in the NBA.
Of the 23 players attempting more than 3.5 pull up threes per game, he shot with the third best efficiency among all of them at 40.5%
Elite. https://t.co/dVMSvjiJuu
As the leader of the offense, Garland needs the ball in his hands. While adding Mitchell would give the Cavaliers one of the league's top backcourts, problems could arise.
Too many times young teams try to get competitive prematurely, and the approach backfires. With his prime right in front of him, Mitchell is looking to maximize his peak seasons. Because of this, he does not make much sense for the Cavaliers. Instead, Cleveland should be focusing on the development of core players like Garland and Evan Mobley.
Any smart team would do their due diligence on a player like Mitchell, and Cleveland made the correct choice by not pursuing further.