Despite missing his team’s last four games, Donovan Mitchell is expected to be ready for his team’s playoff run. After missing the end of regular season with a sprained left ankle, the Cavaliers have taken their time to let their main star recovery properly for title contention this weekend.
His injury occurred during the second half of an April 6 match against Sacramento. After getting a full workout in Cleveland‘s training facility on Saturday, he was on court before their season finale on Sunday afternoon. “I think he’ll be full on with practice.”
“We’re going to have to scrimmage at some point, probably inter-squad with refs, so he’ll participate in that,” shared coach Kenny Atkinson ahead of this weekend’s playoff start. “The most important thing is how we build him up with the ankle rehab and then conditioning.”
The Cavaliers decided to sit nine players, including their four usual starters, during Sunday’s clash. The Ohio club will head into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 63-18 mark, for only the fourth time in franchise history and first time in almost 10 years.
Now Cleveland will have enough time to rest and prepare for their first playoff game, which is expected to happen on April 20, since the 8th seed is yet to be determined until the last play-in clashes this upcoming Friday night.
“When I got traded to Cleveland, people just assumed it would click right away, but you have to grow,” Mitchell said. “The real question is how you continue to get better throughout the season. We beat Boston at their place. But how do we respond tonight against Chicago? How can we be the best team possible?”
Donovan, who leads the Cavs in scoring while averaging 24 points per contest, is the only player in the NBA with this mark in 32 minutes or fewer. “Once we do what we believe we can do,” he said, almost as if it was set in stone, “that will definitely change.”
