Donovan Mitchell (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Donovan Mitchell knows that the key for the Cleveland Cavaliers entering the playoffs is making sure they have the right mental approach.
The Cavaliers entered last year’s playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, coasting to a 64-18 record after starting out the year 15-0, the second-best start to a season in NBA history.
They clinched every accolade possible, with Kenny Atkinson winning NBA Coach of the Year, Evan Mobley winning Defensive Player of the Year, and the Cavaliers having three players – Mitchell, Mobley, and Darius Garland – selected to the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, the highest number of any team in the league.
However, the Cavaliers suffered an early exit at the hands of the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers in the second round.
As Mitchell goes through his fourth season in the league, he knows the key is to get to “another level” if the Cavaliers want to accomplish their objective of winning a championship.
“When you look at our season, if you would just show everybody what our season looked like, you would think that we made it to the Finals,” says Mitchell in a one-on-one interview. “Because of your expectations, this is what we did. But you don’t realize that there’s another level. You have to go through these things.”
The perfect example of a team that went through many setbacks before finally cracking through the glass ceiling is the Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown era Boston Celtics. Since Tatum’s arrival in 2017, the Celtics have consistently had one of the best records in the NBA and advanced deep into the playoffs.
However, it wasn’t until 2024 – after many deep playoff exits – that the Celtics won a championship.
Mitchell points towards the C’s as an example when looking at his current team, the Cavaliers. Cleveland has been to the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, but they’ve yet to advance past the second round in the Mitchell era despite being a rising team.
“I use the Celtics – not to say we’re Boston – but I use them as an example,” says Mitchell.
“They made it to the Conference Finals, but it took them seven years to win. You have to go through these trials and tribulations. The one thing I feel like we learned as a group is you can be physically ready, you can be emotionally ready, but mentally there’s another step you have to push through.”
An All-Around Effort
While Mitchell says it would be great to clinch the No. 1 seed again, he says that isn’t exactly the objective entering the playoffs. It’s early in the 2025-26 season, but the objective entering the playoffs when April rolls around is making sure the Cavaliers build the right “habits.”
Mitchell gives credit to the Pacers last season and says the key is for everyone — the first player on the roster through No. 15 — to make sure they’re ready and running on all cylinders.
The Pacers also went through their share of playoff runs, including a Conference Finals run in 2024, before advancing to the NBA Finals and forcing a Game 7 last season.
“I think it could be one or two guys who are doing it, but if four, five, six and seven aren’t, it has to be a collective unit where we’re all mentally ready to push through every single game, every single possession,” says Mitchell. “That’s ultimately what it’s about, and you run into an Indiana team — who give them that credit — one through 15, they were ready, and they made that run and they just made their conference finals last year, so they had a taste of that.”
“We saw that, we feel that and now this year, we’re coming into it saying, ‘Hey, still gotta care about the regular season, still gotta build habits,'” says Mitchell. “But when it comes time to play, you gotta be mentally ready to push through and as a team we have to be mentally ready as a group.”
A Veteran Addition
One of the few new additions to the roster compared to last season is Lonzo Ball, the veteran point guard and former No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. When healthy, Ball is one of the top playmakers in the league, averaging 7.2 assists per game during his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
He also improved his shooting in recent years. It was once considered a weakness of his entering the league, averaging 14.6 points per game on 37.8% shooting from beyond the arc during the 2020-21 season with the New Orleans Pelicans.
However, injuries have decimated Ball in recent years, with the 28-year-old returning after a three-year absence due to chronic knee issues during the 2024-25 season. Ball, who was acquired via trade this past offseason, is playing a key role early on for the Cavaliers due to injuries to Garland and Max Strus. Garland recently returned to the lineup, but Ball is averaging 23.1 minutes per game while averaging 5.4 assists per game, second on the team only to Mitchell.
“His pace, being able to push the ball up the floor,” says Mitchell of what Ball brings to the table. “He brings so much defensively, his IQ, and you’re seeing that. Obviously his role is expanding right now. But I think when we get fully healthy, what we’re asking him to do, it’s going to be that much greater. Not to say he’s not playing well now — he’s playing phenomenally — but imagine him with a fully healthy roster, wait to see what he can do then.”