The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered a blowout 130-93 residence loss to the New York Knicks on Monday night time, securing a four-game sweep for the Knicks within the Japanese Convention Finals.
Even earlier than that, Cavaliers followers and native media members started speculating about whether or not or not LeBron James might go away the Los Angeles Lakers to make yet one more return to Cleveland.
Following Monday’s defeat, Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell was requested concerning the James-sized elephant that will hover over the membership by not less than a portion of the summer time.
Donovan Mitchell needed no a part of LeBron James questions after the ECF sweep
“We simply ended the sport,” Mitchell mentioned, per BasketNews. “That isn’t for me. I am not attempting to get a headline, that is not for me. I am not going to reply that. That is not for me. That is a (Cavaliers president of basketball operations) Koby Altman query. It is a (Cavaliers common supervisor) Mike Gansey query as a result of I do know it doesn’t matter what I say, regardless of how I say it, and the way I attempt to navigate it, it is going to be a factor. So, I am sorry, I am not going to present you something.”
James turned 41 years previous this previous December and is set to turn into an unrestricted free agent this offseason. In fact, the Akron native is revered by Cleveland followers after he guided the franchise to an NBA Finals win in 2016. Whereas he could now not be what he was when he was in his prime, the truth that he averaged 20.9 factors, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds per sport for the 2025-26 common season could lead on one to imagine he might nonetheless supply loads to a Cavs crew that featured Mitchell and February acquisition James Harden towards the Knicks.
Donovan Mitchell campaigns for the Cavaliers to maintain their core intact
Per Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Seller, Harden is anticipated to decide out of his present contract “and obtain a brand new multi-year deal from the Cavs as a part of a wink-wink, nudge-nudge pre-existing settlement” this coming summer time. In the meantime, Mitchell can even turn into extension-eligible throughout the offseason.
“I’ve little question that this group can get there,” Mitchell insisted after Monday’s loss, per Jamal Collier of ESPN. “I’ve mentioned that every one yr. The most important factor is you simply use it as a studying lesson. It is a robust studying lesson, however now we all know. This crew that we simply confronted needed to undergo this. Perhaps not this fashion, however they have been collectively, they have been a core group and needed to undergo this robust expertise. So, that is our flip.”
Mitchell and Harden each voiced their assist for Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, who probably will not be well-liked amongst many Cleveland followers after his membership did not put up a lot of a combat in entrance of a house crowd on Monday night time.
“I am sorry for the town of Cleveland,” Mitchell added. “For it to be like this and the sweep. That is a—. However I advised y’all final yr, and I will say once more, we’ll be again. We’ll be prepared. We’ll be hungry. And we’ll be locked in.”
It stays to be seen if Mitchell and Harden will discover themselves sharing a locker room with James or a special big-name star who’s at present connected to a special crew when the Cavs start making ready for the beginning of the 2026-27 marketing campaign.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1324276914788316’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
