Donovan Mitchell is now in his fourth season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. While his time in Cleveland has been filled with incredible moments and feats, the conference finals have eluded him in his career.
During the postseason, Mitchell has averaged over 28 points per game, and nearly 30 in the past two appearances for the Cavs, last year and the season before, scoring 29.6. Even with being one of the great playoff performers, Mitchell still has not made the conference finals in his career.
Mitchell has been in the category of one of the great postseason players, as he is one of the six players in NBA history to average at least 28 points in 60 or more playoff games. These numbers put him amongst some of the best players of all time. LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Jerry West, Kevin Durant and Allen Iverson are the only other players in NBA history to fit into that stat.
According to The Athletic’s Law Murray, Mitchell is the player with the most to prove coming into the 2025-26 season. Acknowledging that he has the stats to back up his greatness, but still has not produced the results alongside those stats.
“This might be the last time Cleveland has a team this special with Mitchell leading it,” Murray wrote.
Cleveland has recently been crowned the cap king this season, spending over $240 million on their current roster, the most in the NBA. With reigning DPOTY Evan Mobley’s new contract kicking in, the Cavs will be paying their core guys of Mitchell, Mobley, Garland, and Allen over $150 million this year.
With the Eastern Conference presumably being thin this season, more pressure is placed on Mitchell to lead them to the conference finals. Last year’s Eastern Conference champion, the Indiana Pacers, will be without their best player, Tyrese Haliburton.
The previous champion before them, the Boston Celtics, will also be without their leader, Jayson Tatum. The Cavs, Knicks, and upcoming teams like the Magic and possibly the Hawks will be duking it out for the top seed.
Cleveland is not the underdog anymore, though. They have the team, the circumstance, and the pressure. With the Cavs being favored in the conference, the pressure grows for a guy like Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell is the leader of this team, and as he goes, so does the team.
While the pressure is high, so is the excitement for this team. The season starts for Cleveland next Wednesday, when they take on the Knicks in New York.
