The pressure is mounting for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, and Donovan Mitchell has been carrying a team that came into the year with some very high expectations. His third-in-the-league 9.2 points per game in the fourth quarter is all the evidence anyone needs that the Cavs are going to go as far as he takes them this season, and frankly, it’s now or never.
Cleveland is coming off a 60-win season that should have propelled them into the tier of true contenders, but it’s not played out that way so far. A 13-10 start is hardly a disaster, yet it reflects how uneven the roster has looked around its best player.
Mitchell has been brilliant through the early part of the year, posting one of the strongest scoring stretches of his career and repeatedly lifting the Cavs through games that begin to slip away. The problem is that the gap between his reliability and the rest of the roster has become impossible to ignore.
There was an expectation that this group would take another collective step this season, particularly with how much responsibility has shifted toward Evan Mobley. Instead, Cleveland’s starting power forward has had fluctuating stretches on the offensive end.
Donovan Mitchell is doing it all for the Cavs
Some of that can be attributed to lineup changes and injuries, but a team doesn’t regress from a 60-win identity without underlying issues. The Cavs expected continuity to push them forward, but instead they’re leaning more heavily on their star than ever before.
Mitchell’s recent scoring run has highlighted how thin the margin for error has become. He’s regularly taking on the role of stabilizer and the momentum-changer when the offense bogs down. Cleveland still defends well, but their inability to generate consistent offense without Mitchell’s bursts has become one of the defining traits of their season. It’s not sustainable, and everyone inside the organization knows it.
All this creates a very real sense of urgency. Mitchell has never hinted at being impatient, but stars do not willingly spend their prime years hoping their franchise eventually catches up. The Eastern Conference is too competitive for the Cavaliers to keep drifting. Other teams are finding ways to reshape themselves on the fly, and Cleveland no longer has the luxury of waiting for internal improvement if they want to remain in that top tier.
The reality is simple. If the Cavaliers want Mitchell to view Cleveland as his long-term home and not just a place where he put up some of the best numbers of his career, this season has to reflect that commitment. Donovan is giving the Cavs everything he has, and the window is still open right now. But it won’t stay that way if things don’t change.