Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell Out Again With Knee Issue

Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell may have returned from a knee bruise too soon — and that comes straight from Mitchell himself.

Now, it appears he will miss more time as he aims to start feeling right again.

Mitchell finished Saturday’s 117-103 road loss to the Houston Rockets with 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting. That came one game after he went 5-of-16 shooting for 14 points in a win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Those are hardly Mitchell-like performances, and it’s easy to understand why. Before the New Orleans game, he had missed seven straight.

“Tried to hide it as much as I can,” he said after Saturday’s game, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “But it’s pretty obvious. It sucks. I thought I was ready. I’m not. I can’t fool myself. Just gotta get right again.”

The Cavs (42-25) are already without injured starters Evan Mobley (ankle) and Max Strus (also knee). There’s no clear determination on when either may return.

And now the same can be said of Mitchell, who will miss at least Monday’s game at Indiana. The Cavs then return home to face Miami on Wednesday before visiting Minnesota on Friday.

To be frank, they didn’t look all that great against the Rockets. It’s been a fairly uneven run since the All-Star break and the Mitchell injury sure doesn’t help. Still, he wants to play and there’s no crime in that.

But at this point, yes, it may be best for him to focus on rest and rehab and for the Cavs to try to stay afloat as best as they can without him.

“I mean, no disrespect to some guys, but I’m not really blowing by people right now, and that’s disappointing and it’s affecting me,” Mitchell told reporters.

“I want to be out there, but it’s clear as day, even to myself. I can’t fool myself. We’ll get it right and be ready for when that time comes.”

They currently sit in second place in the Central Division and third in the Eastern Conference, one game back of Milwaukee.

As we relayed here, they are signing forward Marcus Morris to a 10-day contract, likely to help fill in the gaps until they can get healthy.