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Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers suffered a shocking second-round exit in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. This drew significant criticism from Kenyon Martin.
Martin appeared on an episode of Gilbert Arenas' “Gil's Arena Podcast” on Friday. He called out Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and De'Andre Hunter for not fighting through the injuries they had throughout the Cavaliers' series against the Indiana Pacers.
“You don’t suit up bro, give me something? We’re already down Darius Garland, we know he ain’t healthy. We know this going into it, he missed Game 1. So him playing in Game 2 is slim and none. We’ve got to this point DeAndre Hunter, when you came in we started playing better. Evan Mobley we rely on you nightly, it ain’t just your points, it’s your defensive presence, it’s you being out there, it’s something that we could use. When they didn’t play in Game 2 I’m like, ‘Oh man they ain’t going to beat nobody, ain’t got no heart,’” Martin said at the 3:45 mark.
“If I’m Donovan Mitchell, I’m going to that mother f—-r like, ‘Yo, man we got to do something. Whoever you’ve got to go get, whoever you’ve got to get rid of.”
What's next for Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers
Kenyon Martin’s point is if both DeAndre Hunter and Evan Mobley were healthy enough to play in Game 3, why couldn’t they toughen it out and play Game 2. Hunter had a dislocated thumb from Game 1, and Mobley was out with a sprained ankle. Garland dealt with his toe injury that persisted from the first-round series against the Miami Heat.
Despite what Martin says, the Cavaliers have a lot of things to address this offseason. They were dominant in the regular season, winning 64 games as head coach Kenny Atkinson won Coach of the Year. It was the franchise's best season outside of the LeBron James era, meaning there is a lot to come for the squad.
However, they have some issues to iron out if they wish to get over the hump that is the second round. They haven't reached the East Finals since James left in 2018, so Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers will be busy in retooling throughout the summer.
