Source: Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert ‘Would Never’ Trade Donovan Mitchell To Lakers

According to NBA insider Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell is the Los Angeles Lakers‘ number one trade target. 

However, don’t expect Mitchell to land with the Lakers. 

A source told Hoops Wire that Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert “would never” trade Mitchell to the Lakers.

Mitchell doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract. 

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.

However, according to NBA insiders Shams Charania, Joe Vardon and Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, there is a growing sentiment around the league that the Cavaliers will be able to position themselves to receive Mitchell’s commitment for a lucrative contract extension that would keep him in Cleveland past his 30th birthday. 

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.

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.

If Mitchell decides not to extend with the Cavaliers and Gilbert and Co. opt to trade the guard out of fear of losing him for nothing in 2025, the Lakers, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, New Orleans Pelicans, Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies are expected to try to trade for Mitchell, sources told Hoops Wire. 

Gilbert and Koby Altman would look for a lucrative package of multiple draft picks and one or two young players with star potential in a Mitchell trade.

For example, a source told Hoops Wire that the Cavaliers would ask for Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. from the Heat in Mitchell trade talks if it gets to that point. 

While Gilbert and LeBron’s current relationship is better than it was back in 2010 when LeBron left the Cavaliers for the Heat, a source told Hoops Wire that Gilbert trading Mitchell to the Lakers to help LeBron would be “ridiculous.”