{"id":694389,"date":"2026-04-02T18:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/694389\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T18:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:32:19","slug":"donovan-mitchell-reveals-unique-reason-why-he-wanted-to-stay-in-cleveland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/694389\/","title":{"rendered":"Donovan Mitchell Reveals Unique Reason Why He Wanted To Stay in Cleveland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eat it up, Cavs fans. <\/p>\n

All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell<\/a> is in The Land, and his appetite is a big reason why.<\/p>\n

Mitchell, who signed a three-year, $150+ million extension with the Cavs<\/a> in 2024 (that runs through next season with a player option for \u201927-28), recently admitted that the Cavs\u2019 food program played a big role in why he signed the extension with Cleveland nearly two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of (the food) is why I re-signed here,\u201d Mitchell told The Athletic\u2019s Joe Vardon<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And no, he\u2019s (sadly) not talking about Cleveland favorites like Po\u2019Boys or pierogies.<\/p>\n

Spida\u2019s instead referencing the top-notch meals the Cavs provide their players, coaches, staff and broadcasters, not only at home, but also while on the road. Per Vardon, the team hires top chefs in each hotel the team stays in that caters for at least two meals day\/night for the entire travel party.<\/p>\n

No Uncrustables and orange slices for these guys.<\/p>\n

(Their loss!)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a team that, and it\u2019s not BS food either, it\u2019s like the top chefs making it in front of you, and it\u2019s like gluten-free, dairy-free, all the right stuff,\u201d Mitchell continued. \u201cWhen you have a team that believes in nutrition as much as they believe in medical, and what you do on the floor, I think it shows the mindset of the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

That mindset, with the guidance of top chefs, has aided Mitchell<\/a> in scoring nearly 28 points per game this season to go along with more than four boards and nearly six assists.<\/p>\n

Donovan Mitchell was traded from Utah to Cleveland in September 2022<\/p>\n

The Cavs provide numerous options, healthy and not so healthy (like ice cream) and occasionally wine. They\u2019re also flexible, setting up at the team hotel and\/or outside the locker room when on the road. Options are plentiful and the food receives rave reviews. Of course, the meals are at no cost to the team or their traveling party; the team foots the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what stood out for me, like, it costs a lot, but this is an organization that\u2019s willing to do that for its players,\u201d Mitchell said, per Vardon.<\/p>\n

Did you hear that, LeBron?<\/p>\n

Kidding. Sort of.<\/p>\n

While the cuisine and the chefs cooking it may not have been enough to keep the likes of Kyrie Irving or LeBron James in Cleveland, it\u2019s been enough to keep Mitchell fat and happy (OK, phat and happy) in Northeast Ohio.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also prevented Cavaliers fans from having a sour taste in their mouths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eat it up, Cavs fans. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell is in The Land, and his appetite is a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,423,6,422,427,3972],"class_list":{"0":"post-694389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jazz","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-utah","12":"tag-utah-jazz","13":"tag-utahjazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116336547986288406","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694389","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=694389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}