Mitchell’s status will be reevaluated over the weekend.
Things have gone from bad to worse this week for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they announced that star guard Donovan Mitchell will miss at least the three next games with a left knee bone bruise. He underwent a Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) injection on Monday. Mitchell will be reevaluated over the weekend.
There’s no good time to lose your best player, but this certainly wasn’t an ideal one. The Cavaliers are heading into a difficult portion of their schedule and aren’t playing their best basketball as it is. They have only won four of their last nine and have the 15th overall net rating during that span.
The Cavs have struggled mightily this season without Mitchell. They’ve been elite with him on the court as they’ve outscored opponents by 9.9 points per 100 possessions (93rd percentile) while being dominant on both sides of the ball. This has led to an impressive 32-15 record in games he plays. Without him, they’ve registered a -3.2 net rating (36th percentile) while the offense has been mostly abysmal (113.2 offensive rating) resulting in a 7-6 record in games Mitchell doesn’t play.
On top of that, J.B. Bickerstaff has struggled with integrating Darius Garland and Evan Mobley back into the starting lineup. He hasn’t recaptured the formula that was working when both were out. Losing Mitchell for any length of time takes away valuable opportunities Bickerstaff needs to try and cobble together functional rotations.
This could also cost Mitchell any chance of receiving a place on an All-NBA team or any other postseason award consideration this season. He has already missed 13 of the 17 games someone could miss and still reach the new 65-game threshold. Mitchell would only be able to miss one additional game outside of the three that the team announced and reach the minimum number of games played.
Fortunately for Mitchell, this will not affect the amount of money he would be eligible to re-sign for since he made the All-NBA 2nd Team team last season.
The Cavs have reached a defining point of their season. Where they finish in the regular season standings will likely determine how they fare in the postseason due to the need to draw a favorable matchup in the first round. It will be a lot tougher to get back on the right track this week as they host the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves without Mitchell.