Donovan Mitchell, the All-Star guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, is currently hurting, and the timing of it all couldn’t be worse as the team aims to complete the regular season as one of the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs, like every other team in the Eastern playoff picture, want to avoid seeing the Boston Celtics in a potential best-of-seven series as long as they can.
They will need to do so with clubs like the Orlando Magic and New York Knicks breathing down their necks, and Mitchell, who has missed eight of Cleveland’s last 10 games, at full strength.
Due to a bone bruise in his left knee, Mitchell missed seven straight games from March 1 to March 11. However, on March 16, he was forced to miss the following game against the Indiana Pacers due to a nasal fracture sustained against the Houston Rockets.
Mitchell had a treatment on March 19 to “realign the affected area,” according to an official team statement from the Cavaliers, amidst the uncertainty surrounding his health and possible return to activity.
Donovan Mitchell has nasal procedure, return date up in the air
According to Cleveland’s release, Mitchell will undergo a new evaluation in “approximately” one week, which means he will miss the minimum of the next four games. But there’s still no certainty about his schedule, so it’s possible that his absence will go longer than expected.
As of March 19, Cleveland is ranked third in the conference, one game behind the Milwaukee Bucks and two games behind the Knicks and Magic for the third position, respectively. Nevertheless, without Mitchell, the Cavs aren’t as dangerous; of the 19 games he has missed this season, they have a 10-9 record.
Without Mitchell’s average stats of 27.4 points, 6.1 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game on wildly efficient .468/.373/.862 shooting splits, it’s not shocking to see Cleveland look more like a .500 basketball club than a legitimate title contender.
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