The early Donovan Mitchell-Dennis Schroder minutes have been encouraging for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Following the NBA trade deadline, most of the attention when it came to the Cleveland Cavaliers revolved around how Donovan Mitchell and James Harden would mesh together, and for good reason.
However, Cleveland added another guard into their backcourt mix in Dennis Schröder, and the veteran has been a great fit with the Cavaliers so far. In Schroder’s first eight games with his new team, he’s averaging 8.0 points and 4.1 assists.
“Dennis is a true point guard, an aggressive point guard. It's been one of the real positives about Dennis's influence on the group,” said Atkinson after Cleveland’s win over the New York Knicks.
The Cavaliers coach also pointed out how well Schroder and Mitchell are meshing. When the two guards are on the floor together, Cleveland has an offensive rating of 125.8 and a defensive rating of 96.2 in just 84 minutes.
It’s still a small sample size, but an encouraging sign for what’s to come once the new-look Cavaliers reach their ceiling.
“[Schroder] and Donovan, from game one, they're just like [snaps]; two kind of quarterbacks talking things through,” continued Atkinson. “They have a little play, they run our scissors, play, scissors, get, or whatever, and they, they, they milk that a little bit.”
Feb 4, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dennis Schroder (9) warms up prior to the game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn ImagesThe importance of the Mitchell-Schroder minutes is that it takes some of the pressure off Mitchell to be Cleveland’s primary playmaker when he’s on the floor.
When Schroder and Mitchell share the floor, it lets Mitchell “just take a breather and not have, have that responsibility.”
Mitchell is easily Cleveland’s best player, but that doesn’t mean the Cavaliers are the best version of themselves when the ball is always in his hand. Mitchell has always been a better overall player when he’s playing off-ball, and Schroder is allowing him to do just that.
As the Cavaliers get closer to the playoffs and Atkinson starts tightening up the rotations, look for Schroder and Mitchell to get much more playing time together.
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