Pressure Is On The Cavaliers After Donovan Mitchell's Extension

Now that the Cavaliers have extended Donovan Mitchell, they need to start making quick improvements.

May 5, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) reacts after a basket during the second half against the Orlando Magic in game seven of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers locked up Donovan Mitchell with a three-year, $150 million extension on Tuesday, silencing any notion that he may ask for a trade.

For now.

Really, it's a two-year deal for Mitchell, as the third year is a player option that he will almost certainly decline during the summer of 2027 in order to sign a new megadeal.

That means the Cavaliers have three years of team control on Mitchell and three years to build a legitimate championship contender.

Your move, Koby Altman and Mike Gansey.

Mitchell re-upping with Cleveland does indicate some level of trust. If he had no faith in the Cavs' ability to succeed going forward, he wouldn't have signed the deal. Let's also remember that Mitchell remained steadfast in his desire to win with the Utah Jazz until the Jazz ultimately traded him to the Cavaliers in September 2022.

So, Mitchell does not have a history of whining, complaining or asking to be dealt.

But you have to wonder just how much more patience is left in the till for the five-time All-Star.

There is no question that Cleveland is now facing immense pressure to do something now, and it may involve a deviation in philosophy.

The Cavs have insisted that they will not be trading any of Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley, and to be fair, Mitchell seems to love Allen and evidently wants him as a teammate. However, the Cavaliers' refusal to part with Garland may end up harming them in the long run.

To be clear, I am not advocating for Cleveland to move Garland. But if it gets to a point where the Cavs can't realistically improve the roster in any other way, it's an option that must at least be legitimately explored.

Let's face it: aside from extending Mitchell, which is obviously huge, the Cavaliers have not done anything to improve thus far this offseason. I know it's early, but most of the top free agents have already signed, and Cleveland doesn't exactly have a ton of trade assets at its disposal (well, other than Garland and Mobley, the latter of whom is likely untouchable).

The Cavs' financial situation is very tight, preventing them from seriously pursuing any of the best free agents on the market. Meanwhile, Eastern Conference rivals like the New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers have all made significant moves.

We can certainly debate on how much those clubs actually improved (did the Knicks really get better by trading for Mikal Bridges and losing Isaiah Hartenstein in the process?), but the fact of the matter is that those teams are at least trying to shake things up.

The Cavaliers have stood pat thus far, and while it may be the unfortunate result of not having a choice, it is what it is.

It's not like Cleveland has an incredibly long runway here, either. Three years go by like that. Think about: Mitchell is about to enter his third season with the Cavs. Doesn't it feel like just yesterday that the Cavaliers acquired him?

We are in a modern NBA where star players don't spend their entire careers with one team anymore. Heck, Mitchell himself is already on his second franchise (although his circumstances were definitely a bit different). Patience runs thin in today's game, and while Mitchell is willing to wait for Cleveland, he isn't going to sit around forever.

At some point, the Cavs must show commitment to improvement. That means going out and fixing some of the holes on the roster, like bringing in a long, athletic wing to defend the Jayson Tatums of the world (is Jaylon Tyson the answer?) and a floor-spacing big man to better complement Allen and Mobley up front.

It could also mean acquiring a tertiary scorer, which is why the Cavaliers have been rumored to have interest in New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram (although Cleveland has apparently balked at Ingram's extension demands).

The Cavaliers are a good basketball team. After all, they won 51 games two seasons ago and went 48-34 with a first-round playoff win this past year. That's nothing to sneeze at. Still, it's clear that Cleveland is light years away from the Boston Celtics, and one can make a compelling argument that the Cavs are not even a top-five team in the East right now.

I'm not saying that the Cavaliers—who finished with the No. 4 seed in 2023-24—are not one of the five best clubs in the conference, but the fact that you can even make the argument that they aren't tells you that they have a long way to go.

Remember: Cleveland finished just one game ahead of the Orlando Magic in the standings and then beat the Magic in seven games in the first round of the postseason. The same Magic squad that just added Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a roster that was already loaded with ferocious defenders.

There wasn't much separating the Cavs from Orlando this past year, and the Magic just got a little better. The Milwaukee Bucks, Knicks, Indiana Pacers and 76ers are the other non-Celtics Eastern Conference teams that could very well be superior to the Cavaliers.

Mitchell certainly understands all of this. The question is whether or not Cleveland's front office will exercise a sense of urgency to ensure that he doesn't bolt in 2027.