Shaquille O’Neal pumps the brakes on Donovan Mitchell’s dazzling performance this season: “This is regular season, boo boo, Don’t get too excited, okay?”
Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers are off to a hot start this season. The team is on a six-game winning streak, and Mitchell has been sensational with his new team. It's caught the attention of NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, who is still expressing caution with Mitchell's hot start.
After spending the first five years of his career with the Utah Jazz, Mitchell was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason. It was a blockbuster trade that saw the Cavaliers acquire one of the league's top guards. After surprising the league by improving by 22 wins last season, it was clear that the Cavaliers organization was taking a leap of faith.
Throughout his time with the Jazz, Mitchell was publicly challenged by O'Neal, because he has struggled to get to the next level toward a championship. O'Neal has said he sees the potential for Mitchell to be one of the greats, but he needs to take that next step.
After the impressive start for Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers, O'Neal again stressed patience.
“This is regular season, boo boo,” O’Neal said. “Don’t get too excited, okay? Calm down. … Listen, anybody can shoot the ball every time and score a lot of points, but you gonna win? You gonna lead your team to the promised land?”
Shaquille O’Neal shuts down the idea that Donovan Mitchell is proving he can carry a team: 'This is regular season' cavaliersnation.com/2022/11/04/sha…
Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers look to build off impressive start
After an aggressive move to acquire Donovan Mitchell this offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers (6-1) have hit the ground running. Cleveland opened up the season with a three-point loss to the Toronto Raptors. Since then, the Cavaliers have been one of the most impressive teams, rattling off six-straight victories.
Mitchell has shone with his new team, averaging 31.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game. Donovan is also shooting 48.1%, including a career-best 43.8% from 3-point range.
The hope when Mitchell was brought in was that he could gel quickly with the young talent on the Cavaliers' roster. Cleveland has one of the league's top rising point guards in Darius Garland. The limited sample has shown that Garland and Mitchell have the potential to be a dangerous duo in the Eastern Conference.
oh man Donovan Mitchell is having himself a quarter here.
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Garland missed most of the opener and then the next five games with an eye injury but has thrived sharing the backcourt with Mitchell. In his first game back from injury, Garland posted 29 points, 5 rebounds and 12 assists in Wednesday's 114-113 overtime win over the Boston Celtics.
Cleveland has been one of the NBA's most impressive teams in the opening month. But as Shaquille O'Neal said, it's just the regular season. Time will tell if Cleveland can continue to keep up its impressive play. If they can, Mitchell will have his chance to finally lead a team to the promised land.