After weeks of speculation, LeBron James decided to take his talents to the City of Brotherly Love. Instead of finishing his career where it started, he jumped ship to chase another championship in a place with no ties to him.
While that feels right on point with the way James has handled his career, it was a gut punch nonetheless. And, with more reports shedding light on the decision-making process, it only seems that the Cavaliers were never actually in the running.
James may have only used a homecoming as leverage, which, again, fits like a glove. However, a report by NBA insider Brandon' Scoop B' Robinson also reaffirmed what some Cavs fans already knew about Donovan Mitchell: He's not seen as a championship-caliber sidekick.
Donovan Mitchell may have cost the Cavaliers a shot at LeBron James
"Yet, the bigger structural question mark for James’ inner circle remained in the backcourt. As confidants of LeBron James previously shared with me, there was widespread surprise among his circle that star guard Donovan Mitchell remained on the Cavaliers’ roster and had not been moved," Robinson wrote.
Of course, we should take all of this with a huge pinch of salt. Rich Paul and Klutch Sports love to control the narrative, and perhaps this is only a conversation because Darius Garland is a Rich Paul client.
Also, Paul himself admitted on the record that he always knew this would be Garland's last year in Cleveland and told him to brace for a trade. So, it looks like this might only be some damage control after turning down the Cavs.
Regardless, that doesn't make it any less true. In fact, they chose to leak this narrative because they knew everyone would probably follow it. Mitchell is a great player, but he hasn't shown that he can lead a team to the mountaintop.
This isn't necessarily a shot at Mitchell. He's embraced his role in the city, and you can tell he cares and works extremely hard. He might've rubbed some people the wrong way with his comments after falling short in the playoffs (again) last season, but it's obvious that he cares.
However, there can only be a handful of top-tier guys, and Mitchell isn't one of them, unfortunately. With a few exceptions, teams always need an upper-echelon player to lean on, and Mitchell looks more like a Robin than a Batman.
“Donovan Mitchell is not a number one. He’s a number one in Cleveland, he was a number one in Utah. If the Cavs still had Garland in Cleveland and moved Donovan in a trade to Jaylen Brown, there’s a good chance that LeBron James would be in Cleveland today next to Garland, Jaylen Brown and Evan Mobley,” an unnamed source told Robinson.
The Cavs have now committed even more money and more years to a player who can't recruit another superstar to the city because they don't see him as a championship-caliber teammate. That's the bottom line.
Whether the Cavs see this as the sign they've been ignoring for the past couple of years remains to be seen, especially given that Mitchell might be untradeable with his new contract and all the second-apron concerns.
Still, it looks like LeBron James already thinks the Cavs won't win a ring in the Mitchell era, and the question now is whether he can prove him wrong.
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