Donovan Mitchell has done it again.
Mitchell backed up his affectionate words about the Cavaliers with actions, agreeing to a four-year, $273 million maximum contract extension on Tuesday, July 7. A league source confirmed the deal for the Beacon Journal.
A seven-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA guard, Mitchell could have forced the Cavs to wait for another year. He would have been eligible to sign an extension next summer worth an additional $80 million. It’s possible the team could have balked in 2027, yet its partnership with Mitchell has been pristine through his first four seasons in Cleveland.
Save the contractual drama for other star players. It doesn’t fit Mitchell. Guardians All-Star third baseman Jose Ramirez is the face of Cleveland sports, yet Mitchell continues to remind everyone he is the clear runner-up.
Mitchell proved what he has repeatedly insisted remains true: He has fully embraced Cleveland since the Cavs acquired him in September 2022 through a blockbuster trade with the Utah Jazz, and he is committed to continuing to serve as a cornerstone of the franchise.
The 29-year-old Mitchell didn’t choose to join the Cavs, but he has doubled down on staying with them. The pressure of unresolved business won’t hang over either side. The level of trust is refreshing.
Now, if the steadiness Mitchell’s deal provides could just convince LeBron James to return to the Cavs, this would become a transcendent offseason from a Cleveland perspective. Mitchell has informed the Cavs he would embrace James signing with the organization, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.
Donovan Mitchell new contract terms
Mitchell agreed to his most recent contract extension on the first day he was eligible to do so. If Mitchell had waited until next summer, the extension would have been for five years and $353 million instead of four years and $273 million, according to ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks. Mitchell also would have been able to secure a no-trade clause had he stalled until 2027.
Mitchell’s new deal contains a player option for the 2030-31 season and a full trade kicker. In other words, he is under the team’s control for the next four seasons (through 2029-30). Mitchell is set to make $50.1 million next season before the new extension takes effect.
According to Marks, the extension will give Mitchell …
Donovan Mitchell extension should silence skeptics
To say loyalty is scarce in the cold, hard business of professional sports would be an understatement.
Mitchell has heard national media members scoff at the notion he would re-sign with the Cavs after they traded for him nearly four years ago. Mitchell grew up a fan of Akron native James, but Mitchell also loved his hometown New York Knicks. When the Cavs secured Mitchell, a sizable portion of the NBA community figured he would bolt for the Knicks at the first chance. What fueled the belief is Mitchell has said he thought the Jazz would trade him to the Knicks, not the Cavs.
However, Mitchell arrived in Cleveland and developed a fondness for Northeast Ohio, much to the surprise of any locals who possess an inferiority complex. In the summer of 2024, Mitchell signed a three-year extension with the Cavs worth $150.3 million.
When a fresh batch of contract-related questions arose this past season, Mitchell never wavered.
“I love it here,” Mitchell said after the Cavs were swept by the eventual NBA champion Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals on May 25. “I don’t know how else to say it. I’ve said it before I signed the other extension [in 2024]. I love it here, and I have no doubt this group can get there. But reports are going to be reports. People are going to be people. But I said the same thing. We have unfinished business.
“It’s great energy to see the city when we got to the conference finals, just to feel that, like, that’s amazing. You know what I mean? And that’s why getting swept like this sucks because you feel what — even driving in, people are going crazy. I love that. I love that about this place, man. The city deserves a ring, and we just got to keep going.”
Donovan Mitchell health, stats with Cleveland Cavaliers
None of this is meant to suggest Mitchell is a perfect player. Still, he is a very good player who, when healthy, has displayed flashes of greatness. He is also a mature, charismatic leader and a consummate pro.
Mitchell wasn’t fully healthy during the 2026 playoffs, but he never publicly disclosed an injury. He has dealt with soft-tissue issues (hamstring, calf, groin) and ankle sprains throughout his Cavs tenure. This spring, he seemed determined to shut down the topic, and his resistance to excuses his admirable.
“Everybody’s beat up,” Mitchell said during his season-ending news conference. “Everybody’s got something. It is what it is. I looked fine today, right? So if you’re out there between those lines, it don’t really matter, and I’m fine.”
Mitchell played 70 of 82 regular-season games and all 18 playoff games this past season. He averaged 27.9 points on 48.3% shooting from the field (36.4% on 3-pointers), 4.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 33.5 minutes in the 2025-26 regular season. He was voted an All-Star and All-NBA Second Team. He averaged 26 points on 45.1% shooting from the floor (32.7% on 3s), 4.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.2 steals and 36.2 minutes in the 2026 playoffs.
The Cavs defeated the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons in seven-game series to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2018 and the first time since 1992 without St. Vincent-St. Mary High School graduate James on the roster. As a result, Mitchell advanced beyond the second round for the first time, even though he has appeared in the playoffs in all nine of his NBA seasons.
James Harden contract is on hold as Cavs pursue LeBron James
In the postseason, Mitchell and point guard James Harden combined for several brilliant performances, but they also produced some duds, especially on the defensive end of the floor.
Harden arrived in Cleveland in February, when the Cavs traded Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers. The move gave the Cavs a durable 11-time All-Star in Harden, yet it also aged their starting point guard position by a decade. Harden is 36, and Garland is 26. The Cavs carried NBA Finals expectations into the conference finals only to fall 4-0 to the Knicks.
In late June, Harden declined his $42.3 million player option for the 2026-27 season. He is expected to strike a short-term deal with the Cavs this summer. Harden stated at the end of last season he expects to return to Cleveland and has a desire to do so. His decision to remain unsigned for now is giving the team financial flexibility in its pursuit of James, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader.
As for Mitchell, the Cavs considered it a slam dunk to offer him an extension this summer.
“Donovan is uniquely ours, and he’s our guy,” Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman said May 29 during his season wrap-up news conference. “When you are constantly an All-NBA talent that is a great leader, that has incredible work ethic, that adds to the culture, that adds to the mystique of our program, you embrace that.”
Cavs depth chart leaves something to be desired at starting wing position
With Mitchell, Harden, forward Evan Mobley and center Jarrett Allen, the Cavs have four starters solidified.
A James homecoming would provide the team with a solution at wing. If James were to choose another team, the Cavs would need to seek an answer elsewhere.
In 14 of their 18 playoff games in 2026, the Cavs started Dean Wade at small forward, but he recently signed a four-year, $39 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. In the other four playoff games, Max Strus started at small forward, though Strus and backup point guard Dennis Schroder are logical trade candidates. The Cavs also lost guard Keon Ellis in free agency (two years, $18 million, with the Brooklyn Nets) and re-signed backup center Thomas Bryant to a one-year deal. They drafted guard Meleek Thomas in the second round (No. 34 overall) out of Arkansas.
The Cavs have been relatively quiet this summer amid their behind-the-scenes work on the James sweepstakes, but Mitchell renewing his vows with Cleveland is a proud moment for the organization.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Donovan Mitchell contract shows trust between Cavaliers, star. Opinion
Reporting by Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
