Donovan Mitchell wants the message to be clear. Speaking with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, the Cleveland Cavaliers star said, “I love it here,” and added, “I don’t want to go.”
Mitchell said the extension chatter has followed him since he arrived in Cleveland, but he does not see any reason for it to keep defining his future. “I feel like this [contract extension talk] has been a consistent theme every single season I’ve been here,” he said, adding, “I don’t really know how else to blatantly say it to people for them to believe me.”
He also made it plain that Cleveland has become more than a basketball stop. “I see growth. I see a runway. I believe. I’ve made Cleveland home outside of just basketball,” Mitchell said. “The organization knows and everybody in the building knows and feels the way I feel.”
Mitchell said the speculation has never really stopped, even after he signed his first extension. “I’ve been saying this since I first got to Cleveland,” he said. “I was called [out], ‘Oh, he’s lying.’ I was about to sign my extension three years ago, ‘Oh, he’s lying.’ Signed it. They’re like, ‘Oh, [he’s] not signing the long term.’ Whatever. There’s always going to be something, I guess.”
The Cavaliers still had a season worth talking about. Cleveland went 52-30 in the regular season, with Mitchell leading the way at 27.9 points, 5.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game, then reached the Eastern Conference finals before being swept by the New York Knicks.
That ending still clearly stings. Mitchell said, “When I woke up this morning, there is no easy way. … It was just like, ‘Damn, it’s over with,’ ” and added, “Being swept is always tough. It’s embarrassing, nasty.”
He did not soften the loss. “It was a very painful ending. To go out like that, you try to put on a smile and try to move past it. It’ll take a little bit,” Mitchell said. “The worst part about it is just the sweep. We had an opportunity, right? It was right there.”
The Cavaliers’ disappointment was magnified by the final score in Game 4, a 130-93 loss that ended the series. Mitchell said, “That s—, I don’t really know how else to describe it,” before adding, “It don’t matter all the success we’ve had. Yeah, it’s great. But when you lose like that, it’s tough.”
Mitchell also pushed back on the idea that Cleveland’s run should be separated from the players around him. “We don’t get to the conference finals without James Harden,” he said, while noting the outside criticism that often comes with success. “They’re going to hate [Evan Mobley], they hate [head coach] Kenny [Atkinson]. They’re going to hate everybody, right?”
