Hot Take Tuesday: Donovan Mitchell is the third best player to ever play for the Cavs

Another new segment...this one is pretty self explanatory...but every Tuesday I will put our a blog with a "hot take" I have. 

Today's: Donovan Mitchell is the third best player to ever play for the Cavs.

I'm pretty intentional with my wording on this statement. I am not suggesting he is the third best Cavalier, perhaps he could become that, but in order to be on a short list of Cleveland Cavaliers you need to put together a "career" with the team. Time will tell if he makes it on that short list, but for now, I don't think it is an overstatement to suggest that he is one of the three most talented players to ever play for this team. 

There are some 90's guys, and earlier, that I am not going to pretend to know a lot about. But I have always had the opinion that the most talented brand of the game is always what is happening currently. Much like everything else in life, sports progress. The game gets better and more competitive as athletes, training staffs, coaches, front offices, etc. as those groups learn more and more about the game the game advances. I am not taking away anything from guys who played thirty or more years ago, but this is just a fact. The world progresses, period. 

So, not to discredit the talent of teams 90's and before, but I am totally going to discredit the talent of those teams. From there the list of players is pretty short: LeBron, Kyrie, and Kevin Love. Lebron is obviously the most talented player to ever play for the Cavs, and I'm not sure how people would rank Kyrie and K Love but Donovan Mitchell is definitely in the conversation with those two. 

What Donovan Mitchell has done to start this season has been pretty amazing. 

Donovan Mitchell this season:

32.2 PPG
7.3 APG
4.5 RPG
49.6% FG
45.5% 3PT
85.7% FT
63.7% TS
Cavs 5-1 pic.twitter.com/yrW9KNvBkO

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) October 31, 2022

We're six games into the season so take all of these stats with a grain of salt, but regardless Donovan Mitchell's body of work in his first five seasons suggest that he was trending in the direction of being a force in the league. If he continues on this trajectory, even if it is only for a singular season, he will unquestionably be one of the three most talented players to ever play basketball in Cleveland.

This season with the Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell is averaging 32.2 PPG.

That's the 2nd-highest in NBA history in a player's first 6 games with a team.

The only higher average is Wilt Chamberlain's 36.8 PPG in 1959 with the Warriors. Those were the first 6 games of his career. pic.twitter.com/ECdgJjUA0P

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 31, 2022

One of the things that's really special about Donovan Mitchell is how he is inspiring hope for Cleveland basketball fans. That's one thing that doesn't really get talked about enough, but the Cleveland basketball fanbase is out there, it exists. LeBron proved that in both of his runs in Cleveland, but unfortunately the passion has had to lay dormant because the product hasn't leant anything to be passionate about. Donovan Mitchell has a real chance to resurrect that for the first time without LeBron James. 

Cleveland fans are downright insufferable most of the time, but when they love something they will invest their heart into it. That is the opportunity Donovan Mitchell has here, if he can continue to make this basketball team a competitive product the fans will embrace him with a tremendous passion. And we, the fans of this basketball team, have an incredible opportunity to watch Donovan Mitchell cooking the league while wearing our favorite jersey. 

-BG