FIRST TAKE | “Cleveland is too small team for him”- Stephen A. on Mitchell signs extension with Cavs

FIRST TAKE | “Cleveland is too small team for him”- Stephen A. on Mitchell signs extension with Cavs

and good morning welcome to First Take On A Tuesday how we doing everyone I’m Christine Williamson here from Molly we got Chris Carlin in the studio with me we also got Chanel G and ran windhorse here happy Tuesday everybody how we doing good happy Tuesday good all right uh we have more breaking news out of the association this morning our Adrian wjen rowski reporting that Cavs Allstar Donovan Mitchell has agreed on a 3-year 50.3 million maximum contract extension that includes a player option for the 2728 season that news again just breaking this morning so Wendy I’m going to start with you on this one what more can you tell us about the Cavs keeping their star yeah so I want to say two things about this one this is a huge moment for the Cavs franchise I would say it’s the second biggest contract signing in the history of the team dating back to 1970 after LeBron coming back in 2014 this is a player who they invested in a amount in three unprotected first round picks pick swaps a number of young players they absolutely had to secure him the reason the Jazz traded him two years ago was they weren’t sure he would sign this extension in a place that wasn’t in one of his preferred destinations possibly even New York the Cavs bet on themselves bet on the roster that they had had two good playoff Seasons he had a terrific season this last year he would have been all NBA had he not gotten injured and uh well arguably been the second he’s arguably the second best player in franchise history already Kyrie Irving’s resume has a championship on it but Donovan Mitchell can put himself there behind LeBron James it is a huge accomplishment for them it was Far and Away their number one priority of this off season it hung over their coaching search which was which was stressful and took a a month um and there was a year ago um after the Cavs had a very very disappointing loss in the first round to the Knicks there were many NBA teams who were planning on trying to make a move for Mitchell on July 2nd 2024 not watching Adrien report that he had $150 million extension so before I move on to the second Point unqualified successful Celebration Day for the Cavs now this is functionally a two-year contract um because uh he there’s a player option in there and and he’s not doing it because he doesn’t believe in the Cavs he’s doing it as WJ has said to get to the 10-year Mark of his career which gives him in a better contractual situation I can go on for that for a while but at the end of the day it is needs to be pointed out that the Cavs will have stress again in 2026 because then because of the option he will then be a year away from free agency so it is a great moment and something that they should uh totally Bas in but they still have to get to work and in a very in an improving Eastern Conference they are they still have a very a big job ahead of them I think the most important thing here is that more than anything it just calms the situation down for Cleveland when they’re going through a transition and they’re bringing in Kenny Atkinson as their new head coach this is a guy that had a lot of success developing players in Brooklyn but didn’t get to stick around when they had an opportunity to go get the big players and go win now you have Donovan Mitchell who is telling everybody this is good I’m happy to be here it may be just for the short period that he’s committed to these two years but more importantly than anything else it’s I’m buying in to what k Atkinson is selling and that’s the voice that you have to need or that you have to have backing you up as you’re trying to move this team forward in the Eastern Conference we’re all I think collectively still kind of overlooking the Cavaliers in the East because they’re still not on that top tier yet but Donovan Mitchell staying here and committing to what he did is sending that message to the rest of this team you know sometimes the grass isn’t green on the other side I think a lot of times in the NBA we see moves happen with top players because they want to go and get instant gratification but I really like this move by Donovan Mitchell because I think leaving Utah a lot of the questions were okay is he going to really find a home somewhere else and is that place going to be Cleveland or is he going to look to see if the grass is greener elsewhere but he chose to stay and to me that’s huge not just for the Cleveland Cavaliers their organization but also for the maturation of Donovan Mitchell I mean last year year he had a sensational year and I know he was banged up sort of for the latter quarter and he still showed up and showed out he averaged 29 Points I think this team finished fourth in the East they are one of those candidates that I think are trying to improve and it may not be huge leaps of improvement but they have a solid Squad and I think for a while when it comes to the Cavs there was this you know idea of what is the hierarchy of power because they had their back court that one was an All-Star one year another was an All-Star another year who’s going to lead on each night they all know that Donovan Mitchell is that guy I think the question internally was would he want to stay and it’s so hard for players of Donovan Mitchell’s caliber to choose a market like Cleveland and the fact that he did that speaks volumes about the direction of this team and also the direction that Donovan wants to do because this is a team that I really feel like is more decent than people even understand they have great defense I think there were question marks about Moy I don’t know if y all saw how he finished in the postseason he was coming up big even though that was that was a very tough situation they have really good pieces they have a new coach and I do think that Donovan saw all of those things and said hey maybe the best place for me is right here yeah certainly a lot to look forward to if you’re a Cavs fan having your star back all right let’s talk about a star that decided to move clay th according to wo Donovan Mitchell has agreed to a three-year 150 million maximum contract extension to remain with the Cavs sources tell ESPN that Mitchell’s New Deal also includes a player option for the 2027 28 season you know Donovan Mitchell averaged 25 points per game in each of his first two seasons there in Cleveland that is already the second most by any Cleveland Cavaliers player behind yes LeBron James who did it in 10 of his 11 Seasons By the way this is the second unbelievable stat of the day that the only three guys in the history of the franchise have averaged 25 in a season are Donovan Mitchell LeBron and Kyrie I didn’t mean to interrupt you I just this the second time today I’ve been the stats guys have blown me away that’s how good our research team Mark Price R dhy they’ve had all sorts of great Parts Austin car I know World be free how about that here you go that’s old school there World be free love to love to get Buckets I would I guess he’d have 25 in this season back here on get up let’s do a little right or wrong NBA Style Allan let’s start with Klay Thompson signed that three-year deal with the MAV yesterday if I said the Dallas Mavericks will return to the finals next season is that right or wrong I must say right because they were already there last season with what they had and they added a player that made them better in fact I like Naji Marshall as well as an addition to make them better defensively and he can shoot the three showed you last season but Klay Thompson gives them the experience they need obviously the catch and shoot three-point shooting that they need the steadiness when you get to the highest level of the game that they also were lacking at the NBA final stage at the beginning of that series it’s a great fit for both sides so yes I say that is right is it right or wrong Allan is forgetting about the Oklahoma City Thunder because he’s still sad that they stole Isaiah hartstein from the niick pretend that didn’t happen so he’s just pretending that they don’t exist because then Isaiah hardstein might go back to the Knicks it’s obviously wrong because the Thunder are the best team in the Western Conference I think they are arguably the second best team in the NBA behind the Boston Celtics they should be the massive favorites to get out of the Western Conference and make it to the NBA finals they traded Josh giddy for is hartenstein and Alex kuso that is a gigantic addition I think they are the winners along with the Sixers of the entire offseason okay uh wheny out come to you of course the Celtics they are set up for a dynasty after signing Jason Tatum to a 5year $314 million deal is that right or wrong well I’m going to put a asterisk on here no one is set up for a dynasty in the modern NBA fore fore that’s spe e [Music] [Music] spe [Music] spe [Music] be done CH it to to more [Music] it’s for [Music] for am for for minut [Music] y [Music] spee 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FIRST TAKE | “Cleveland is too small a team for him” – Stephen A. on Donovan Mitchell signs extension with Cavs