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It’s not the most famous whiteboard in the NBA this week, but the dry-erase-marker scribblings that Bobby Marks posted on Tuesday morning were enough to make your eyes bulge out of their sockets all the same:
Unwritten: the dollar signs before the numbers, and the word “million” after them.
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That’s what Donovan Mitchell will be making in each of the four seasons of the new $273 million extension he agreed to with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday: $60.9 million for the 2027-28 season, $65.8 million in 2028-29, $70.6 million in ’29-30, and $75.5 million in ’30-31. Mitchell will also get a full 15% trade kicker in the new deal, and will hold a player option for that final season, his agent told ESPN’s Shams Charania — preserving the opportunity to get one more big bite at the free-agency apple when he’ll be 34 years old.
It’s a gigantic pact for a phenomenal player. Since joining the Cavs in 2022, the 29-year-old Mitchell has earned four straight All-Star selections and has made three of the last four All-NBA teams (and likely would’ve made the fourth had injuries not limited him to 55 games in 2023-24). He’s one of just eight players in the NBA to average at least 25 points and five assists per game with a true shooting percentage (which factors in 2-point, 3-point and free-throw accuracy) north of 60% in that span, joining MVP winners Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Stephen Curry, as well as all-world superstars Luka Dončić, Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving.
Mitchell has become one of the NBA’s premier offensive orchestrators in the half-court — a high-level pick-and-roll creator and isolation weapon whose teams perpetually score at an elite rate when he’s on the floor. In his three full healthy seasons in Cleveland, the Cavs have finished seventh, first and eighth in offensive efficiency. Since his arrival, they’ve consistently had the point differential of a high-50s-win-team (or better) in his minutes.
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Thanks partly to his high-volume/high-accuracy 3-point shooting, his low turnover rate despite high usage, his strong-for-his-position steal rate…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/what-does-donovan-mitchells-big-payday-mean-for-clevelands-future-201841904.html
Author : Dan Devine
Publish date : 2026-07-07 20:18:00
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