For the first time in his Cavaliers tenure, Donovan Mitchell didn’t have to sidestep any questions about his future on Monday after signing a three-year, $150.3MM extension this offseason, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes.
“From the minute I got here I told my mom, I think I was just like, ‘Yo, I really like it here,’” Mitchell said Monday. “For me it was just a no-brainer. I’ve known for a little bit that this was my decision. It’s finally good to have a media day where we’re not talking about where I’m going next. You can lay your roots somewhere that you actually want to be. I think that’s special.”
According to Fedor, Mitchell considered other options but had decided on re-upping with Cleveland by early 2024 before putting pen to paper this summer.
“It was kind of funny watching everybody say that this is how I’m feeling, but I knew,” Mitchell said. “I don’t want to call it a looming cloud. Every loss is like, ‘What’s going to happen next?’ It’s refreshing. I’m glad that we’re here and I’m excited to be here. You know where you’re going to be, where your feet are. It’s just a calming vibe. I can come in here now and breathe. It’s way more peaceful. I know where home is. I’m happy here.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- Allen, who signed a three-year, $91MM extension with the Cavaliers this offseason, spoke on Monday about why he decided to accept a new contract from the team with two years left on his existing deal, as Fedor writes. “I like it here,” Allen said. “I like the city. I like the people here. It’s easy to say in front of everybody just to hype everybody up, but I truly do genuinely like it here and I believe in it here. I’ve put in three years, three and a half years to try to see this team succeed and genuinely happy that they’ve put their trust in me for another whatever years.“
- Pistons second-year forward Ausar Thompson is being held out of contract drills to start training camp, according to Larry Lage of The Associated Press. Thompson dealt with a season-ending blood clot in the spring and president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said the 21-year-old is working through a medical process with the NBA and the players’ union. Thompson has been cleared for non-contact drills, conditioning, and strength training.
- Bulls guard Onuralp Bitim underwent two surgeries to fix a detached retina in his right eye that he suffered in the team’s second-to-last game of the season, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network tweets. As part of his recovery, Bitim said he had to sit on his stomach for 15 hours a day for multiple days. Now healthy, Bitim is battling Talen Horton-Tucker, Kenneth Lofton, Marcus Domask, E.J. Liddell and the two-way players for a spot on Chicago’s 15-man roster.