The Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the NBA’s hottest teams over the past couple of months, and their strong play has put them in third place in the Eastern Conference and just half a game behind the second-place Milwaukee Bucks.
Donovan Mitchell has led the way for them, but he missed their game against the New York Knicks on Sunday after receiving a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, and he is expected to miss their next three contests as well.
Tim Bontemps pointed out that assuming he misses all three of those contests, he will be on the verge of being ineligible for All-NBA honors, as he will have missed 16 games this season.
Obviously Cleveland’s focus is going to be on getting its star back out there healthy, but Donovan Mitchell will now have missed at least 16 games this season — putting him on the verge of not being eligible to make All-NBA.
Friday vs. Minnesota will be his 16th missed game. https://t.co/HZjs6U0Kap
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) March 4, 2024
The league instituted a new rule for this season that in order to be eligible for certain individual honors, players must appear in a minimum of 65 regular-season games.
This rule was passed in order to prevent players from sitting out games due to load management, something that has become an alarming epidemic over the last few years.
Mitchell has taken the Cavs from an upstart play-in tournament team to a legitimate playoff team since he arrived two summers ago in a shocking trade with the Utah Jazz.
He’s averaging 28.0 points, 6.2 assists, and 1.8 steals a game this year, and he has scored at least 40 points five times this season.
In the long run, an even bigger concern for Cleveland is Mitchell’s impending free agency in 2025, as many have speculated he’s unhappy with them and wants to play for his hometown Knicks.
NEXT: Cavs Announce Donovan Mitchell Will Be Sidelined