As the Cleveland Cavaliers continue to struggle this season, fans can't help but notice Donovan Mitchell is experiencing trouble in a very similar way to how he did during his time in Utah. While a member of the Jazz, Mitchell helped lead his team to the top record in the conference in 2021, before seeing a sharp drop-off in team performance just one season later, largely due to lack of a complete roster around him.
Sound familiar? If so, that's because it's exactly what we're seeing unfold with the Cavaliers this season. A team that was touted so highly in the preseason has struggled mightily, and it's the same nightmare Mitchell experienced in Utah. Ultimately, this is where we've now arrived at due to the rest of the roster outside of Donovan not performing up to standard.
Cleveland came into the year expecting to look like one of the most complete teams in the East. Instead, they've been defined by inconsistency. The offense has stalled for long stretches, and the defensive identity that carried them last season has been missing. Mitchell is having to shoulder a disproportionate amount of the scoring load just to keep the Cavs competitive, which is the same burden he carried during his final years in Utah.
The Cavaliers can't ask Donovan Mitchell to do everything
The troubling part is that these problems were supposed to have been addressed by now. Darius Garland has struggled to find a consistent shooting rhythm, and the pairing has not generated the kind of fluidity Cleveland envisioned when they built this backcourt. Evan Mobley has shown growth, but the team still lacks consistent offensive creation behind Mitchell. When possessions stagnate, everything defaults to Donovan playing isolation basketball late in the clock.
Depth has also played a major role in Cleveland's regression. The wing rotation, long seen as the roster’s weakest point, continues to be unreliable. Too many games have required Mitchell to play superhuman basketball simply to offset the lack of production around him. The bench has delivered occasional flashes but has not provided the stable second unit scoring that a top-tier Eastern Conference team needs.
This is the same pattern that unraveled the Jazz. A brilliant star carried a flawed roster as far as he possibly could, only for the structural issues to become exposed in higher stakes moments. The Cavs are not at that point yet, but the parallels are impossible to ignore. A team that started with championship ambitions is now fighting to stay above water, and once again, Mitchell is left trying to solve every problem on his own.
If Cleveland wants to avoid a repeat of Donovan’s Utah ending, something has to change quickly. Whether it's a lineup adjustment, a renewed commitment to defensive standards, or a move at the trade deadline, the Cavaliers just can't expect Mitchell to cover for every shortcoming indefinitely. He has proven he can elevate a team, but he cannot rescue a roster that refuses to meet him halfway.