Evan Mobley's development is key factor in Cleveland Cavaliers success in 2025-26 and Donovan Mitchell is ready to help him take his game to an MVP level

On multiple occasions during the offseason, Evan Mobley and MVP candidate were mentioned in the same sentence. 

His teammate Donovan Mitchell said it. Then, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson mentioned it as well. 

The comments raised some eyebrows, but key figures within the Cavs organization are banking on Mobley entering that stratosphere, and believe for the organization to reach its ultimate goal, he has to.

A lot of that falls on Mobley himself, no doubt, but Mitchell, as the main star and a key leader of the team, knows he has a part to play in lifting Mobley into the MVP conversation. 

"Just continuing what we've been doing," Mitchell said at Cavaliers media day on Monday. "I'm in his ear. Obviously our lockers are right next to each other, we shoot together, constant communication. But for me, just a level of empowerment. Continuing to play through mistakes, continuing to take his game to a different level." 

Mitchell's role in Mobley's development is certainly just part of the puzzle that is building an MVP candidate. What's most important, as Mitchell also noted, is that Mobley himself is totally bought into it. 

"There's a want to that I think helps and makes this a lot easier. It's not like I'm trying to pry this out of him. He's just as committed to being this great as I am to saying that he is, which makes this easier ... as much as I talk about I'm in shape, he's ready to go too. And also understanding like 'hey, you got it. I'm gonna go over here. It's not that black and white, but understanding he's ready for that, he wants that." 

Last year saw Mobley earn his first ever NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, after a season where he averaged a career high 18.5 points to go along with 3.2 assists and 9.3 rebounds. The 24-year-old is entering a new season, though, with an understanding of just how important that next stage of his growth will be to the team's success.

He appears ready for it. 

"Every I feel like I’ve been making leaps and leaps and past few years been bigger leaps and bigger leaps, and this year I'm planning to do the same thing" Mobley said Monday. In the offseason I just [went] hard. Just tried to prepare myself to make that big leap and I know what I’m capable of and know how good I feel like I could be. I'm gonna strive for that everyday."

The road to that next leap begins at training camp over the course of the next week. Then, he'll put it to the test on the floor in the preseason and eventually the regular season. Fortunately, he won't have to go it alone. Mitchell and his other Cavaliers teammates will do their part in turning Mobley into the MVP caliber player everyone in the organization seems to believe he can be.