The Cleveland Cavaliers are at the forefront of the NBA offseason discussions at the moment following their second-round exit on Tuesday at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
The Cavs were short-handed in that contest. They were missing Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert and Craig Porter. However, there seems to be a deeper-rooted issue in Cleveland.
Per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, Mitchell “grew frustrated with some teammates’ lack of maturity, focus, playoff-level readiness and a willingness to listen” at times during the 2023-24 campaign. Mitchell is under contract for the 2024-25 season with a player option for 2025-26, but it sounds as if his time in Cleveland could be coming to an end.
One has to wonder if the Philadelphia 76ers will find a way to get involved. President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey is always ready to make the next move to upgrade the roster. However, the Sixers don’t have much to offer Cleveland outside of draft assets.
The Sixers have a bunch of current and future draft picks, but they have only four players under contract for 2024-25. Three of them are non-guaranteed contracts and the other is Joel Embiid. The Sixers are not moving Embiid or Tyrese Maxey in any potential Mitchell deal. That leaves draft assets and cap relief which likely will not entice Cleveland.
The thought of Mitchell is tantalizing. He averaged 26.6 points on 46.2% shooting and 36.6% shooting from deep in the 2023-24 season. His smaller stature would hurt Philadelphia on the defensive end, but his dynamic offensive game would be a perfect fit next to Embiid and Maxey.
So the question becomes how can the Sixers get involved for Mitchell? Well, a third team would likely have to be involved for the Cavs to get the pieces they’re looking for in return for Mitchell. Cleveland still believes it can contend with a core of Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.
Morey will find a way to bring a third star to Philadelphia with Maxey and Embiid. It appears Mitchell is out of the question, but this is the NBA. Teams find a way to get involved for stars such as him all the time.
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