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SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Mitchell loves his situation with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a young nucleus on the verge of hitting its collective stride together.
Listening to the team's owner, the former Utah Jazz star has found a home in the northeast Ohio city and is content staying there. Uh ... yeah, maybe.
Needing to lock up Mitchell this summer or face losing him — sound familiar, Jazz fans? — Dan Gilbert recently expressed confidence in keeping the team's leading scorer. Excuse some of us for lacking the boss's faith.
"We've been talking to him, sure, for the last couple of years about extending this contract," Gilbert told the Associated Press last week. "We think he will extend. I think if you listen to him talk, he loves the city.
"He loves the situation in Cleveland because our players are very young and we're just kind of putting the core together that he's clearly the biggest part of."
For his part, as he's always done, the media savvy Mitchell has avoided making any definitive statements regarding his future. Returning from injury last week, he adroitly addressed Gilbert's sentiments without tipping his hand.
Mitchell, whose team plays the Jazz Tuesday night, has one year remaining on a five-year, $163 million deal he signed with Utah. He can sign a four-year extension valued at about $200 million this summer or likely become a free agent in 2025.
"I think the biggest thing for me, as I said before to you earlier — I mean, obviously, you have to ask the question," Mitchell said to reporters. "But my focus is — I've got a lot of things to focus on outside of that right now. I've got to focus on myself, getting back for this group, focus on us getting over this stretch, continuing to be ready when it comes time.
"So, I'll handle that when it comes. I understand you've got to ask that question, and I'll give you the same answer."
Mitchell's roots are in the Big Apple, in the city that never sleeps. He's a New York kid, knowing full well if he can make it there, he can make it anywhere.
Seven years into his NBA career, the undeniably talented Mitchell — he's averaging 27.1 points to go with career highs of 6.1 assists and 5.3 rebounds a game — has made it in both places he's played. At 27, he is a five-time All-Star, including both seasons with the Cavs.
But it seems from the moment he first donned a Jazz uniform the overriding perception throughout the league was Mitchell wanted to play for the New York Knicks. He was born in the metropolitan area and attended private schools across the state line in Connecticut before playing his final two years in New Hampshire at Brewster Academy, a boarding school that has produced numerous NBA players.
Years later, nothing has changed.
"This is like non-bias, no outside info, I think he'll play for New York one day, whether that's sooner or later," former Jazz teammate Joe Ingles said last November in an interview on The Zone. "I think it would be great for New York, and I think it would be great for him. Whether or not that actually happens, we'll wait and see."
Despite Mitchell enjoying great individual success during his five seasons with the Jazz, team officials knew full well he wasn't going to sign a long-term extension. In September 2022 he was traded to Cleveland in a blockbuster deal in exchange for Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji, three first-round picks and two pick swaps.
Even if it wasn't his dream team, Mitchell was ecstatic to join the Cavs. He later confirmed an ESPN report saying he was going nuts at a golf course after the deal was announced.
"I thought I for sure I was going back home, I'm not going to lie about that. But when I found out where I was headed ... I couldn't be more happier to be here, to be a part of this organization," Mitchell said at his introductory press conference with the Cavaliers.
Cleveland, which is contending with the Knicks for third place in the Eastern Conference standings, lost to New York in the first round of the playoffs last season. The Jazz never made it past the second during Mitchell's tenure.
