Donovan Mitchell: The new ‘King’ of the Cleveland Cavaliers

What we all “witnessed” Monday night with Cleveland Cavaliers new superstar Donovan Mitchell scoring 71 points was nothing short of spectacular. It’s been described as phenomenal, breathtaking and whatever other grand word you would like to fill in the blank.

There have only been seven players in the history of the NBA that have gone for 70 or more points. Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant are a couple of names now that Mitchell will share space with when we are talking about one of the best individual performances ever.

It was an amazing moment for Mitchell and the Cavaliers, and it gave them another comeback win and built their season record to 24-14 as they sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference after that W over the Chicago Bulls. The Cavaliers have since moved to 25-14 after another fourth quarter where they delivered, and found a way to win, despite the game far from a pretty one for much of it against the Phoenix Suns.

As for Monday’s game, Mitchell obliterated his previous personal records for points when he ran by his regular season-best of 46 points and a playoff high of 57 points.

For Mitchell, this first season in Cleveland has been tremendous after he was traded here from the Utah Jazz in the offseason in exchange for Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen and a number of other pieces. For the season Mitchell is averaging 29.0 points and 4.9 assists. His 11 assists the other night on Monday amounted to him contributing 99 points of the Cavs 145 points when you combine the 71 points.

Beyond just the numbers what Mitchell is helping to transform the Cavs into, which is a consistent winner, is nothing short of magical and this is where the conversation about a new “King” in town has to be discussed.

Mitchell is quickly becoming the new “King” of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers were rebuilt when a very young and upcoming superstar in LeBron James got drafted by the team back in 2003. James was a local kid from Akron, Ohio and he was born ready. There’s been no one like him and there never will be again in the NBA. However, when we are talking in terms of a new special player, in this case Mitchell taking over the distinction as the Cavalier leader and taking that long standing title of James’ in the “King” we have to gracefully transition to this truth as fans.

Our website is called “King James Gospel,” so the original “King” has a website named after him and will have a ton of other things named after him as we move through time. So, there will only be one king, but we have to praise Mitchell and give him the “dusted off” title because he’s earned it. This Monday performance is just one of many where the Cavs have leaned on their star to pull of the win.

How many games over the years, did James almost single-handedly bring his Cleveland teams back from the dead? We all knew that when James was on the court, anything was possible. That can now be said about Mitchell.

Prior to the awesome game the other night, Mitchell had been in a bit of a slump and wasn’t scoring baskets the way he’d been pretty consistently doing all season long. Those types of moments have been so few that it was surprising. But then he had the night of his life and a game that will be looked at and watched on replay time and time again.

Current Cavs player Kevin Love even reminisced about what he had just witnessed in a social media post he posted after the game. Love was here in Cleveland when LeBron was here and also was teammates with legend Kyrie Irving, who hit the 2016 NBA Championship game-winner against the Golden State Warriors. He ranked the Mitchell performance as one of the best ever.

To top it off, the “King” himself shared his excitement for what he just watched when he gave Mitchell his props in a Tweet after the game.

The “King” is LeBron James, but Donovan Mitchell can now be considered the honorary “King” of the Cavaliers these days and that’s not a title he’ll relinquish any time soon. Is a NBA title in the future of this Mitchell-led Cleveland team?

You have to believe it’s written in the stars, and is going to happen.