Since coming to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2022-23 season, Donovan Mitchell has transformed them from an upstart play-in tournament team to a legitimate playoff squad.
He has galvanized the team with his ability to score in bunches, split double teams, attack in the open court and raise his game under pressure.
On Monday, he scored 36 points to lead the Cavs to a 119-113 win over the Chicago Bulls that improved their record to 12-0, and in doing so, he now has more 30-point games than Kyrie Irving posted when he played for them, per SN Ohio.
Donovan Mitchell now has more 30 point games with the Cavs (55) than Kyrie Irving 👀 pic.twitter.com/BpF6RcG7vX
— SN Ohio (@SN_Ohio) November 12, 2024
Irving spent six seasons and 381 games with Cleveland, so Mitchell surpassing him in 30-point games in less than half the time he spent with the team is quite a feat.
Mitchell’s scoring is down a bit so far this season — he’s at 23.7 points a game compared to 26.6 a game last season — but he’s shooting a career-high 41.0 percent from 3-point range.
With fellow backcourt mate Darius Garland and big man Evan Mobley increasing their scoring, perhaps Mitchell simply hasn’t had to do as much heavy lifting in the early going of this season.
Still, he is ready to explode when needed, and that will especially come in handy during the playoffs.
There is still some doubt around the NBA that the Cavs are legitimate championship contenders, especially after they got waxed in the second round of last year’s postseason by the Boston Celtics in five games.
The Celtics are the defending world champions, and the New York Knicks are considered by many the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, and those are the two teams Cleveland will have to contend with this spring in order to make a deep playoff run.
NEXT: Darius Garland Gets Honest About His Injury Last Season
