{"id":637179,"date":"2026-03-03T19:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/637179\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T19:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:07:15","slug":"kendrick-perkins-puts-pressure-on-cleveland-with-controversial-donovan-mitchell-lebron-james-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/637179\/","title":{"rendered":"Kendrick Perkins puts pressure on Cleveland with controversial Donovan Mitchell-LeBron James take"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers face more championship pressure<\/a> than any team in the league, according to former NBA center and ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins.<\/p>\n

Speaking Tuesday on ESPN\u2019s First Take, Perkins argued that Cleveland has built a roster tailored around Donovan Mitchell and that the organization has done more to support him than it did during LeBron James\u2019 tenure with the franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team that\u2019s under the most pressure is the Cleveland Cavaliers. It\u2019s no other team that\u2019s under the amount of pressure like those guys,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cIt\u2019s no other player in the NBA that\u2019s under the amount of pressure like Donovan Mitchell. I\u2019m one of these guys that\u2019s willing to argue with anybody that the Cavs have done more for Donovan Mitchell than they\u2019ve done for LeBron James.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perkins pointed specifically to roster upgrades and organizational decisions, including the midseason acquisition of James Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Darius Garland<\/a>. The move signaled Cleveland\u2019s aggressive push to maximize its current championship window.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to surrounding him with the personnel and the bodies and firing coaches to put him in position to be successful,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cJames Harden, it\u2019s pressure on him \u2013 can he deliver as a third option? Because he\u2019s not even the second option on this team. It\u2019s gonna be Evan Mobley. Is Evan Mobley going to fold again or he\u2019s going to open up his level of physicality?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cleveland<\/p>\n

Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

He also referenced the franchise\u2019s decision to part ways with former head coach J.B. Bickerstaff in prior seasons as another example of Cleveland\u2019s urgency.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHere\u2019s another thing: they fired J.B. Bickerstaff a couple of seasons ago,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cThe Cleveland Cavaliers better, better go out and compete and try to win a championship. There\u2019s no other team in the league that\u2019s under the pressure like the Cavs and Donovan Mitchell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since acquiring Mitchell from the Utah Jazz, Cleveland has endured consecutive postseason disappointments. In 2022-23, the Cavaliers fell in the first round to the New York Knicks. In 2023-24, they lost to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics. Last season, despite winning 64 games, Cleveland was eliminated in five games by the eventual Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers enter Tuesday at 38-24, sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, and are set to face J.B. Bickerstaff and the Detroit Pistons at 7 p.m. ET. Detroit prevailed in the previous matchup, securing a 122-119 overtime victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Mitchell, Harden and Evan Mobley anchoring the core, Cleveland\u2019s roster reflects an organization pushing all available chips toward contention. Perkins\u2019 comments underscore that expectations now match the investment \u2014 and that the Cavaliers\u2019 margin for error is shrinking as the postseason approaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers face more championship pressure than any team in the league, according to former NBA center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,864,2058,185,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-637179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-donovan-mitchell","14":"tag-kendrick-perkins","15":"tag-lebron-james","16":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116166817181387930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}