The Cleveland Cavaliers had a good season, winning 48 games and getting to the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, where they were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in 5 games. Then, they fired J.B. Bickerstaff after 4-plus seasons with the team that included 2 playoff appearances over the past 2 seasons. One key reason that Cleveland could have fired Bickerstaff is because Donovan Mitchell can be a free agent at the end of the season.
Mitchell is eligible to sign a 4yr/$208 million contract extension this summer and while I am not saying that he wanted Bickerstaff fired it has to be considered into why Cleveland is making the coaching change. The main options for the Cavs to hire are James Borrego, Kenny Atkinson and Johnnie Bryant. Borrego and Atkinson are former head coaches who have had some success at the NBA level and Bryant is one of Mitchell’s favorite coaches he has ever had. I think they’ll land on one of Borrego or Atkinson but with how tight Mitchell and Bryant are, they were both with the Utah Jazz from 2017-2020, you cannot rule Bryant out of the mix. Keeping Mitchell long term should be priority number 1 for the Cavaliers this summer.
In fact, I would even go as far to say that even if Mitchell does not ink an extension, Cleveland should roll the dice and keep him. If Mitchell passes on the extension this summer and becomes a free agent, Cleveland has his full bird rights meaning they can give him the most money. To stay with the Cavs, Mitchell would sign for likely 5yrs/$270 million if he were to leave as a free agent, Mitchell could sign a 4yrs/$200 million deal with a new team. That would be $70 million that Mitchell would be leaving on the table to leave the Cavaliers. Mitchell might ask for a trade this summer and Cleveland might be forced to deal him but I find that unlikely and think the Cavaliers should keep Mitchell.
Your next question could be, why wouldn’t Mitchell sign any extension this summer if he can get so much more next year. That answer is because Mitchell has 7 years of service in the NBA, meaning his max contract is only 30% of the cap. Once a player hits 10 years of service, their max jumps from 30% to 35% of the cap, which is the same as a super max contract. As a result, signing the shorter deal now allows for Mitchell to get to that 35% number quicker than a longer deal. Which is why Mitchell might leave that extra $70 million on the table next summer but I still think that is a long shot.
Let’s say that Cleveland does decide to trade Mitchell, the next question would be what can they get? I think that the Brooklyn Nets and the Miami Heat would be the top bidders in any Mitchell trade. Brooklyn could offer Cam Johnson, Cam Thomas, Dorian Finney-Smith, the Suns unprotected pick in 2027, the Mavericks unprotected pick in 2029 and their own unprotected pick in 2031 (they could also include a 2030 pick swap if needed) for Mitchell and Georges Niang or Dean Wade. That could be an overpay so the picks could be changed but that would be the general outline of the trade. Miami was a key player in the Mitchell sweepstakes in 2022 when he was traded to the Cavaliers. They do not have the same quantity of picks that the Nets have so they’ll need to get creative and finding a 3rd team for Jimmy Butler is the way to do it. If the 76ers miss out on Paul George I could see a world where they trade for Butler by using their cap space. Butler could go to the Sixers, Mitchell to the Heat and Terry Rozier, Paul Reed, Miami’s 2029 and 2031 unprotected picks, the Clippers 2028 unprotected pick and the better of the Clippers and Sixers 2029 unprotected pick to the Cavaliers. Miami could also offer Terry Rozier or Tyler Herro, Jamie Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic and their picks in 2029 and 2031 if they wanted but I am not sure that is enough. However, as I said I would rather keep Mitchell, retool around him and risk free agency than trade him.
The Mitchell and Darius Garland pairing has not worked out for the Cavaliers the way they thought it would. As a result, I think if Mitchell stays, Garland goes. They could send Garland to the Spurs for Keldon Johnson, Tre Jones, the 4th pick in this draft and the 8th pick in this draft and then they could trade the 4th and/or the 8th pick for a veteran player to surround Mitchell with. The Nets want to pair Mitchell with Mikal Bridges so Cleveland could try that by sending Garland and the 20th pick to Brooklyn for Bridges and Dennis Schröder. They could send him to the Nets in a deal that doesn’t have Bridges. Garland for Johnson, Finney-Smith, Dallas’ 2029 pick and the Suns 2025 unprotected pick could be a deal the two sides do. This would give the Cavs 2 quality wings and more assets to make another deal with. The Magic could offer Jonathan Issac, Joe Ingles, and their 2026 and 2028 picks in a deal for Garland if they want to get involved as well. The Cavs could offer the Pelicans Garland for Brandon Ingram straight up, though Ingram needs a new contract so I am not sure I would do that if I was Cavs President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman.
Cleveland also has a ‘twin-towers’ situation they need to work out. Cleveland could look to split up Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley by trading Allen but unless I am getting an impact player back I am not sure I would make that move. The Cavs had a net rating of 6.1 with just Allen on the court in the regular season, 0.4 with just Mobley, 1.5 with both on the court and -2.8 with both on the bench. Unless I am getting some kind of good backup center on the team who is not Tristan Thompson or Damian Jones, and a real impact player like Julius Randle from the Knicks, I would not be so fast to split up Allen and Mobley.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have a really big offseason coming up and they need to figure out a way to build the team around Mitchell better before it is too late.
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