We’re now at the point where the NBA season reaches a crossroads where eliminated teams, failing to meet expectations, begin to show cracks.
For the Cleveland Cavaliers, that crack was The Athletic’s expose that dropped Thursday and examined the future of the team’s head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, and its biggest star, Donovan Mitchell. In addition to The Athletic, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported that Mitchell, who missed the final few games of Cleveland’s second-round matchup against Boston with a calf strain, “grew frustrated with some teammates’ lack of maturity, focus, playoff-level readiness and a willingness to listen.”
It’s the type of thing we came to hear about Kyrie Irving during and after his tumultuous exit from the Boston Celtics. That said, the expectation was that Irving would re-sign a max contract with the Celtics — that never happened. Mitchell is a free agent who will have no shortage of suitors, and a return to the Cavaliers certainly isn’t out of the equation.
Mitchell wasn’t thrilled by the report suggesting any friction between him and his teammates. Bleacher Report aggregated Fedor’s reporting into a graphic that saw Mitchell call “cap” but also say that he’s “so sick of y’all sometimes.”
Yeah aight 🧢 I’m sick of yall sometimes! https://t.co/B7zdP8APDk
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) May 16, 2024
The source of Mitchell’s frustration with recent reports and the evoking of the word “y’all” is unclear. It could be the broader sports media narrative, not just Bleacher Report, which aggregated a Cleveland.com report. Notably, Mitchell seems less concerned with how Bickerstaff was portrayed by Fedor or The Athletic and more with the suggestion of a rift between himself and his teammates regarding their shared focus on winning.
As Mitchell takes aim at the media, all eyes will be on Cleveland to see if they can address these internal issues and convince its star player that a championship run is achievable with the Cavaliers. Depending on how Mitchell and the organization navigate these reported frustrations, the summer could see a significant shift in Cleveland’s direction.
[Donovan Mitchell on X, Cleveland.com]
