NBA Trade Rumors: Donovan Mitchell deal ‘very real’ possibility this summer

The NBA rumor mill never stops churning. Even teams in the middle of a playoff series aren’t immune, especially when they have the supposed “most available star” (aka the one who’s most unhappy and/or unlikely to sign an extension with their current franchise). Right now, that’s the Cleveland Cavaliers and Donovan Mitchell.

The Cavs gambled on Mitchell before the 2022-23 season, acquiring the guard from the Utah Jazz in exchange for a massive haul that included Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, three unprotected first-round picks and the rights to two first-round pick swaps.

Spida has been as advertised in Cleveland. He’s made consecutive All-Star teams and was named Second-Team All-NBA in ’22-23. Along with Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, Mitchell has led the Cavaliers to the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs in back-to-back seasons. The Cavs currently hold a 2-0 lead on the Orlando Magic.

Unless Cleveland can make a deep postseason run, though – which would almost certainly include winning a series against the Boston Celtics – the franchise may need to find a trade package this summer to avoid letting Mitchell walk for nothing.

Donovan Mitchell is expected to decline his player option for next season and head for free agency

Earlier this month, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report wrote that Mitchell is “all but certain to decline his $37.1 million player option for the 2025-26 season to explore unrestricted free agency next July.”

Cleveland would gladly shell out max money to extend its best player, but if said player has no interest in signing that extension, the Cavs would be left with two choices: let Mitchell decline his option, play next year on an expiring deal and hope he eventually relents and re-signs; or trade him after this season and recoup some of the assets they gave up to get him.

The situation sounds even more dire for Cleveland now after The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Josh Robbins quoted an anonymous NBA executive who said, “That (Mitchell situation) is very real. Teams will definitely clear out a bunch of (assets) for him. We’ll see. But if they face Boston in the second round, they’ll probably lose. And yeah, that doesn’t bode well (for his future in Cleveland).”

The Cavaliers may have no choice but to trade their superstar

Mitchell is becoming more of a flight risk by the day. Even if Cleveland were to beat Orlando and move on to the Eastern Conference semifinals, the likelihood that they beat the Celtics, who have been far and away the most dominant team in the NBA all season, is slim at best.

Was it worth the risk to add a then-25-year-old star to a talented young core and try to make a deep postseason run? Sure. You can’t win in the NBA without stars. But things could move quickly this summer – Mitchell included – if the Cavs can’t win enough in the next few weeks to convince him to stay.

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