Cavs Insider

Does Donovan Mitchell Have Too much Power Over Cavaliers?

NBA host Brian Geltzeiler believes Cleveland's star guard may have too much control

Spencer German

May 11, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrates in the second quarter of game three of the second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs against the Boston Celtics at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
May 11, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrates in the second quarter of game three of the second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs against the Boston Celtics at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

The Cleveland Cavaliers 2024 offseason has been all about star guard Donovan Mitchell.

Mitchell reportedly sat in on several of the team's head coaching interviews, even giving his stamp of approval on the newly minted head man Kenny Atkinson. The focus quickly turned to Mitchell who agreed to a three-year extension, including a player option in the final year, worth $150.3 million. And then over the weekend the team hired a long-time confidant to Mitchell from his days with the Utah Jazz, former Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant.

That trifecta of moves ensured Mitchell will be sticking around for the foreseeable future, but at what cost?

While catering to stars is nothing new for the Cavaliers – the franchise spent the better part of 11 years trying to appease LeBron James not so long ago – some question whether or not team's should be so willing to hand over so much power to a player. Consider Sirus XM NBA Radio host Brian Geltzeiler is one of those people.

During an appearance on 92.3 The Fans' Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima, Geltzeiler made the case for why he believes the Cavs have given Mitchell too much power over the organization.

"Not as much as he has, so I'll start there," Geltzeiler said when asked how much power Mitchell should have with the Cavaliers. "I don't know if this fell below the radar in Cleveland but it certainly got my antennas up when I saw it – the hiring of Johnnie Bryant as the associate head coach. That's Donovan Mitchell's guy.

"Bringing [Kenny Atkinson in] and giving him Johnnie Bryant as the lead guy on the staff gives Donovan Mitchell a whole lot of say, and a whole lot of power and a whole lot of leverage over a brand new coach, who's coming into a situation where maybe nothing changes."

During his introductory press conference, Atkinson refereed to the relationship between a coach and his star players as "a partnership." That philosophy appears to apply to the front office's relationship with Mitchell as well.

In many ways that's just life in the NBA today, particularly if you plan on keeping a star player around.

Is Geltzeiler right about Donovan Mitchell wielding much power over the Cavaliers?

Published
Spencer German
SPENCER GERMAN

Spencer German is a contributor to the Northeast Ohio cluster of sites, including Cavs Insider, Cleveland Baseball Insider and most notably Browns Digest. He also works as a fill-in host on Cleveland Sports Radio, 92.3 The Fan, one of the Browns radio affiliate stations in Cleveland. Despite being a Cleveland transplant, Spencer has enjoyed making Northeast Ohio home ever since he attended college locally.Β 

Home/News