{"id":700925,"date":"2026-04-06T06:03:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700925\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T06:03:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:03:36","slug":"cavaliers-donovan-mitchell-addresses-injury-scare-after-pacers-game-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700925\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell Addresses Injury Scare After Pacers Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> star Donovan Mitchell<\/a> continues to shine in his ninth NBA<\/a> season, leading his team to a comfortable win over the Indiana Pacers<\/a> on Sunday at Rocket Arena. However, there was a brief scare in the fourth quarter when he appeared to suffer an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

Cleveland entered the game without key contributors<\/a> Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and Sam Merrill. Despite facing an injury-hit Pacers squad, the Cavaliers did not take control until the third quarter, with Mitchell playing a central role in the turnaround.<\/p>\n

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He finished with 38 points, six rebounds, and six assists, shooting an efficient 16-of-27 from the field. Notably, 23 of his points came in the second half, as the 29-year-old took over down the stretch.<\/p>\n

\"Cleveland<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell reacts after a basket by guard Max Strus (2) during the second half against the Orlando Magic at Rocket Arena. David Dermer-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(David Dermer-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Late in the fourth quarter, after knocking down a three-pointer from the left corner, Mitchell appeared to twist his right ankle. He moved gingerly afterward, but later reassured reporters he was fine.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cY\u2019all dramatic as hell,” Mitchell said postgame, downplaying concerns about the injury.<\/p>\n

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Clutch Points Spencer Davies further reported<\/a>, “Donovan Mitchell says he is just fine despite twisting his ankle and pointed out that he got back on transition defense the next play. No indication of being upset or anything like that. He was quite the opposite, actually, making fun of James Harden<\/a>‘s three-ball scream.”<\/p>\n

It ultimately was just a scare, but Mitchell still made his presence felt, even dropping two Pacers defenders, including Micah Potter, to the floor before finishing at the rim. With strong contributions from James Harden and Thomas Bryant<\/a>, Mitchell helped the Cavaliers secure a 117\u2013108 win to improve to 49\u201329 on the season and continue to hold on to the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

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For the year, Mitchell is averaging 27.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.7 assists while shooting 48.1% from the field and 36.4% from three-point range. He has earned his seventh consecutive All-Star selection and has already surpassed the 65-game threshold, making him eligible for end-of-season awards.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers have four games remaining on their regular-season schedule against the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>, Atlanta Hawks<\/a> (twice), and the Washington Wizards<\/a>. They still have a chance to climb past the New York Knicks<\/a> for the No. 3 seed, though the No. 4 spot appears secure as Cleveland looks to build momentum heading into the playoffs.<\/p>\n

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Related: What Pushed Donovan Mitchell to Commit His Future to the Cleveland Cavaliers?<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell continues to shine in his ninth NBA season, leading his team to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[1577,208,7,306,305,193,3846,864,576,126,560,1178,872,177,32137,6,191,76,8453,1166,362,468],"class_list":{"0":"post-700925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-ankle-injury","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-cavaliers","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","14":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","15":"tag-donovan-mitchell","16":"tag-evan-mobley","17":"tag-indiana-pacers","18":"tag-james-harden","19":"tag-jarrett-allen","20":"tag-max-strus","21":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","22":"tag-micah-potter","23":"tag-nba","24":"tag-new-york-knicks","25":"tag-orlando-magic","26":"tag-rocket-arena","27":"tag-sam-merrill","28":"tag-thomas-bryant","29":"tag-washington-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116356252774649370","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700925","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=700925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}