The Cleveland Cavaliers are now into their offseason as they were eliminated from the playoffs earlier this week. The Cavaliers won their first series of the playoffs as they took down the Orlando Magic in seven games. They put up a good fight in the second round against the top-seeded Boston Celtics, but they lost in five games. Now, the offseason is here, and there are some question marks surrounding Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.
Donovan Mitchell is the best player on the Cavaliers and the big question for the team this offseason is regarding whether or not Mitchell will be back next season. Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps discussed the situation on Hoop Collective, and they don't seem to think there is a scenario where Mitchell and Darius Garland are back next season.
If Mitchell is back with the Cavaliers, Windhorst thinks that the Cavaliers will trade Garland.
“Especially after watching this playoff run, they’re going to extend Mobley probably at the max, probably very early July,” Brian Windhorst said. “If Mitchell extends, they’re probably going to trade Garland. And if Mitchell doesn’t extend, they’re going to have a big problem, and they’re probably going to have to trade him and we’ll talk about that, every single thing. The thing about it is, in theory they can’t discuss a contract extension with Donovan Mitchell until after the finals are over.”
If Mitchell does come back, Bontemps thinks that the Cavaliers will be wanting to build the team around him, and he thinks that Mitchell will know that.
“I would say how this goes is, if you're the Cavs and you're Donovan Mitchell you say, ‘okay Donovan, if you sign here this is your show and we're gonna work with you to get the team around you how you want it,'” Tim Bontemps said. “Like they can't be trading Darius Garland if he's not extended like they're not going to do that. So a lot of this ends up with the order of operations for how these things are going to go.”
This is a big offseason for the Cavaliers
This offseason is a big one for the Cavaliers as they have a lot to build on from this season. It wasn't too long ago that Cleveland was near the bottom of the NBA, and they worked their way back near the top. Donovan Mitchell is obviously a huge reason why they have been so good, and Cavaliers fans are certainly hoping that he stays put in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers finished in fourth place in the Eastern Conference this season after finishing the regular season with a 48-34 record. The end of the playoffs obviously didn't go to plan as they were knocked out in the second round, but it's hard to be too upset after going down against this Celtics team, especially without Donovan Mitchell for games four and five. Cleveland put up a good fight against the best team in the NBA, and they have a lot of potential for continued success in the future.
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