According to NBA insiders Joe Vardon, Shams Charania and Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, Donovan Mitchell did not have great confidence in JB Bickerstaff as the Cleveland Cavaliers coach for the future.
The Cavaliers fired Bickerstaff today.
“Though Cleveland improved under Bickerstaff, his teams scuffled after the All-Star break in each of the last three season,” Vardon, Charania and Lloyd wrote. “Also, and perhaps most importantly, Cavs star Donovan Mitchell, among other players, did not have great confidence in Bickerstaff as the coach for the future, numerous league sources have said for most of the season.”
Bickerstaff went 170-159 in the regular season and 6-11 in the postseason with the Cavaliers.
Cavaliers president Koby Altman admonished Bickerstaff in front of his entire staff for playing Mitchell heavy minutes against the Houston Rockets on December 18, per The Athletic.
In his second season in Cleveland, Mitchell averaged 26.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists while shooting 46.2% from the field, 36.8% from beyond the arc and 86.5% from the free-throw line.
The Cavaliers went 48-34 in the regular season.
Cleveland defeated the Orlando Magic in the first round of this year’s postseason in seven games. It was the first time the franchise won a playoff series without LeBron James on the roster since 1993.
The Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics in the second round in five games. Mitchell, who turns 28 in September, missed Games 4 and 5 of the Boston series due to a left hamstring injury.
A five-time All-Star, Mitchell has career averages of 24.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists with the Utah Jazz and Cavaliers. He scored a career-high 71 points last season against the Chicago Bulls.
One of the top scorers in the NBA, Mitchell is under contract for next season and has a $37 million player option for 2025-26. He is eligible to sign a four-year extension this summer and the Cavaliers will offer him a max extension of around $200 million.
If Mitchell doesn’t sign an extension with the Cavaliers this offseason, the thought is that Cleveland will look to trade him before free agency in the summer of 2025.
If Mitchell becomes a free agent in 2025, he is eligible to sign for a max of five years and $269.9 million with the team that holds his Bird rights (the Cavaliers now) or four years, $200.1 million with a new team.
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