The Knicks certainly will be at the head of the line if Donovan Mitchell ends up on the trade market again, but the Cavaliers reportedly aren’t ready to move him, even with their mounting injury situation.
The Cavs will be without All-Star point guard Darius Garland and forward Evan Mobley for several weeks, but they “are not prepared to consider” dealing Mitchell, according to Yahoo Sports.
Mitchell, whom the Knicks attempted to obtain in the summer of 2022 before he was traded from Utah to the Cavs, can become a free agent after the 2024-25 season,
The 27-year-old Westchester product was averaging 27.7 points with career highs of 5.6 rebounds and 5.5 assists in 22 appearances this season entering Wednesday’s game against the Jazz in Cleveland.
The Cavs began the day with a 15-12 record and in the sixth playoff position in the Eastern Conference, a half-game behind the Knicks, who were to face the Nets in Brooklyn.
The Knicks, of course, ousted Mitchell and the Cavs in five games in the first round of the playoffs last spring.
According to the Yahoo report, citing league sources, the Cavs maintain a “commitment to this core of four All-Star talents” — Mitchell, Garland, Mobley and 2022 All-Star center Jarrett Allen — “even with all the incessant chatter among rival executives that Mitchell will inevitably bolt when he can reach the unrestricted market in 2025.”
Garland is slated to miss at least four weeks with a facial fracture, while Mobley is expected to be sidelined at least eight weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
The Cavs signed free agents Max Strus and Georges Niang in the offseason, but they will have their depth greatly tested in the interim.
Mobley’s recovery time frame likely puts him out through the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
“My job is to focus on this [team],” Mitchell told reporters this week. “We have two guys that are out, so I’m not answering anything. And no disrespect. I appreciate that you have to ask the question, but I’m not going there with any of those questions. My focus is on these guys being out, us trying to find a way to get wins.”
Of course, Cleveland mortgaged much of its future in the Mitchell trade, dealing Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji, three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps.
“And yet part of the calculus behind paying Utah’s exorbitant price to deal Mitchell was the potential to recoup at least some of the outgoing assets the small-market Cavaliers burned to bring in an All-NBA guard with designs on playing in New York,” Yahoo’s Jake Fischer wrote. “If the Cavaliers were to put Mitchell on the block tomorrow or in February before the trade deadline or next offseason, there would be a long line of suitors, the Knicks surely among them, willing to compete for his services with competitive offers.”
The Knicks have long coveted the addition of another star player, but they wouldn’t be alone in pursuing Mitchell, with the Nets and the Heat also considered among the top possibilities to land the four-time All-Star guard.
If the Cavs fall out of contention ahead of the deadline, as Fischer wrote, “perhaps they will be holding different internal meetings about the long-term landscape of this franchise.”
The far more likely time for Mitchell to be dealt, however, would be the offseason, especially if he turns down a massive contract extension.
