The Cleveland Cavaliers hope to retire Donovan Mitchell's No. 45 jersey one day.
Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman told reporters that the franchise hopes to retire Donovan Mitchell's No. 45 jersey one day.
The Cavaliers acquired Mitchell from the Utah Jazz before the 2022-23 season. Mitchell is averaging 26.7 points per game in the regular season and 27.3 points per game in the playoffs in a Cleveland uniform.
A seven-time All-Star, Mitchell led the Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. It was the first time Cleveland made the conference finals since 1992 without LeBron James.
The New York Knicks swept Mitchell and the Cavaliers in the conference finals, but Cleveland's front office remained loyal to Mitchell by giving him the huge extension.
Mitchell signed a four-year, $273 million maximum contract extension this offseason.
One of the best scorers in NBA history, Mitchell enters this season with career averages of 25.1 points per game in the regular season and 27.8 points per game in the playoffs with the Jazz and Cavaliers.
Cleveland will start James Harden, Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen this season. That's a really talented starting five on paper.
The Cavaliers begin this season against LeBron and the 76ers in Philadelphia. That will be an electric atmosphere.
It would have been fun to see LeBron come home to play with Mitchell, but King James signed a two-year, $8 million deal to play with Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia.
The 76ers also signed former Cavaliers wing Dean Wade.
LeBron is the best player in Cleveland history. He's also arguably the top player of all time.
LeBron is first in NBA history in points, field goals, games and minutes. He’s the only player to rank top five all-time in points and assists, the only player to win three Finals MVPs with three teams, the only player with 40,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 career assists and the only player to score 50,000 points combining the regular season and playoffs.
LeBron holds career averages of 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game with the Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers. He’s a four-time MVP, four-time champion, four-time Finals MVP, one-time scoring champion and one-time assists champion.
Mitchell will try to do what LeBron did in 2016. The 2015-16 Cavaliers won the 2016 championship against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors.
The Cavaliers will retire LeBron's No. 23 jersey one day. Cleveland fans may see 45 next to 23.
