Donovan Mitchell is eligible for a contract extension this offseason, but there’s no indication that he and the Cavaliers intend to seriously discuss a new deal, and that shouldn’t be a cause for concern in Cleveland, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said during a recent NBA Today appearance (YouTube link).
“Maybe if the Cavs had won the championship last year, maybe Donovan would extend, but I don’t think under any (other) circumstances he was ever considering extending this season, and I think the Cavs knew that when they traded for him,” Windhorst said. “I think the pressure point comes a year from now, when he’s got one year left on his contract. … The Cavs have another year to see where their team is at and where Donovan sees that the Cavs are at.”
Mitchell actually has three seasons left on his current contract, but the final year is a player option, so he can reach free agency as early as 2025. That means he’ll essentially be entering a contract year next summer, which is why Windhorst refers to it as a “pressure point.” The Cavs’ performance – and Mitchell’s own play – in 2023/24 could go a long way toward determining whether the star guard is willing to sign a long-term extension with the team a year from now.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Although Ricky Rubio made his announcement about putting his career on hold for mental health reasons through the Spanish Basketball Federation, the Cavaliers were aware the news was coming and are “fully supportive” of the veteran point guard, sources tell Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. It remains to be seen whether or not Rubio will be available for the Cavs when the NBA season begins this fall.
- Pistons guard Cade Cunningham has been the standout player on the U.S. Select Team that has been competing against Team USA’s World Cup squad this week in Las Vegas and has beaten it in multiple scrimmages so far, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. While Cunningham’s play in those scrimmages is encouraging for the Pistons and their fans, the former No. 1 pick says he’s simply happy to be back to 100% after a leg injury limited him to 12 games in 2022/23. “I feel healthy again,” Cunningham said. “My leg isn’t a problem for me right now. So I think that’s the biggest difference, just that I can just play freely and not think about my body too much.”
- Given Cunningham’s strong play in Vegas, it’s fair to wonder whether he should be a part of Team USA’s actual World Cup roster instead of the Select Team. A previous report indicated that the Pistons guard was invited to join the World Cup team, which Joe Vardon of The Athletic confirms. According to Vardon, Cunningham explained this week that a desire to manage his workload this summer ahead of his NBA return was the “deciding factor” in turning down that invitation.
- While it’s unclear if former No. 4 overall pick Patrick Williams has shown enough in his first three NBA seasons to warrant a rookie scale extension from the Bulls this offseason, teammate DeMar DeRozan remains a big believer in Williams’ potential, as Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times details.
Patrick Williams would reach his potential faster if DeMar passed him the ball every time he is double teamed.
Time to face facts, Williams will never be a 3 point shooter, Or even a decent Mid range shooter or a rebounder needed to play PF. They keep trying to pound that square peg into the round hole while completely ignoring the PF position for going on 4 years now. The dumbest thing they ever did was get rid of Thaddeus Young who was solid for 1/2 year of Lonzo Ball. Smooth move.
“Never be a 3pt shooter” like he doesn’t shoot 41% for his career, 45% from the corner, and 48% on catch and shoots. He’s miscast as a PF, that’s 100% true, but he’s an excellent 3pt shooter. And he’s not awful in the midrange; he’s better than 40% from every range for his career. But because he’s playing out of position (he’s a 3 or oversized 2), he looks way worse than he actually is. Kind of the same way the Bulls keep playing LaVine as a pseudo-PG when he can’t do that. Or they way Markkanen was played as though he was Davis Bertans. The Bulls suck at playing their guys in scenarios where they can actually succeed. It’s why so many break out on other teams.
Hey EonADS, don’t let the actual facts get in the way of him proving his point..lol
Like you said Patrick’s shooting has been excellent. The only issue is the lack of volume of the shots he puts up. That is partially due to him being too passive, but that is also due to him being miscast as a 4, like you both said previously..
I mean, the roster is clearly incomplete, and they honestly don’t even have one true PF on their team.
T.Craig is really the only “4” on their team, and he isn’t even a real power forward with any kind of significant size to him..
They just have a huge collection of small forwards on their roster, and good luck to any coach trying to figure those rotations out. I mean, to find the next PF on their roster you have to go all the way down to their 2-Way players, and it would be Adam Sanago. Which, honestly, he’s probably best suited as a 5 not really a 4.
Idk, maybe they start:
Carter, LaVine, Caruso, DeRozan, and Vucevic
Then, their bench rotation could be:
Ayo, White, P.Williams, Craig, and Drummond
How would you guys set up the two rotations, in order to try and best unlock Patrick Williams’ potential??
Patrick Williams does need to fire more 3’s but has improved his frequency each season. He’s no power forward except maybe in a league with a 6’8″ height limit. His accuracy may drop with a large increase in volume but with a .414 lifetime percentage He’s going to be fine.
Honestly? Play DeRozan at PG. He showed in San Antonio that he has the chops for it, particularly in 20-21. 7 assists to 2 turnovers isn’t bad at all (especially since only about half of that was on bad passes) and it would allow the Bulls to make the most of his ball-dominant style while setting up drive-and-kicks, not unlike the Thunder. They have a lot of good 3pt shooters, after all. He’ll play up defensively against smaller guys. It’ll act like a poor man’s version of the ‘89 Bulls when they played Jordan at the point; breaking the team’s over-reliance on one dominant scorer and improving the ball movement. Which the Bulls badly need. The roster around DeRozan is better than the one around Jordan at that time, though (Pippen hadn’t fully broken out yet).
And playing P-Will at the 3 is probably best for him and the team; his defense will play up against equally-sized defenders, and he’ll get more opportunities to shoot.
Playing Craig at the 4 is best for this current roster, but I’d ditch White the second they can for a true 4. Maybe the Jazz have an odd man out between Olynyk and Collins in their front court rotation or something by then; they could use another ball-handler.
There is nothing wrong with P. Williams. Williams doesn’t score more because he is about the 4th option on offense. Obviously LaVine and DeRozan are going to take a lot of shots (and rightfully so, they are good, so why shouldn’t they take a lot of shots). Vucevic and White are going to put up some shots. So not much left. Only one basketball.
The trade offers that have been written about the Bulls trading DeRozan for any number of losers is pathetically funny. I just saw one that I assume was written by a stupid Philly Beat writer suggested that the Bulls trade him for Harden. DDR is in the last year of his deal at around 28 million and Harden is in for about 35 million. So the Bulls are supposed to take on 12 million dollars more in salary for a perpetual ball hog and headache for one of the best team players in history? Just how much crack do you have to smoke before this even looks remotely possible? Brutal. The guy actually had the gall to suggest the Bulls would want Harden because he’s on an expiring deal, Completely ignoring the fact that DDR is too.
Sorry 7 million in extra money. I though DDR was making about 23 million but was wrong and didn’t change the number. Oops, My bad.
You are dead on correct. Why in god’s green earth would the Bulls want anything to do with Harden?
DM would be smart to hold off signing an extension until next off season. CLE should take a big step forward this year, but that’s almost entirely dependent upon Mobley becoming one of their primary offensive options. While that starts with Mobley, it also involves the guards who are both scorers themselves. This should work, but, at the same time, there’s no reason to assume it will. Let it play out.
I’d say Mobley, Allen, Garland, Allen, even LaVert. Can all still make improvements. It’s why I think they will be better next yr.
The Cavs just traded half a team for Mitchell and they’re gonna cash it in after 1 season? In what universe does that make sense? I guess the off season NBA I need a story universe.
I’d add that Okoro, Bates, Porter, Strus, Niang and Isaiah Mobley are all good enough to expect them to be better as well. His point that the offense needs a third point on the triangle is valid. Obviously that has to be Evan Mobley. We can’t have Mitchell almost matching Evan and Jarrett together again in points and move forward. This team should be much better and more motivated after last April.