{"id":913503,"date":"2026-10-02T13:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/913503\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:38:09","slug":"donovan-mitchell-opens-up-on-lebron-james-choosing-76ers-over-cavaliers-hes-the-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/913503\/","title":{"rendered":"Donovan Mitchell Opens Up On LeBron James Choosing 76ers Over Cavaliers: “He’s The Enemy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> superstar Donovan Mitchell<\/a> could have been teammates with LeBron James<\/a> today, but the NBA icon chose to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> in free agency. James\u2019 decision was a big blow to the Cavaliers, and Mitchell was asked on In Motion With Ashley Nicole Moss<\/a> whether they believed there was a real possibility of him coming to Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it is something that was definitely on the brain,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cYou\u2019d be naive to think that that\u2019s not a possibility. But I like to live in the real, not the what-ifs or the possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moss wondered whether Mitchell had texted James about coming to Cleveland, and he did recruit him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just more like \u2018Hey, we\u2019d love to do this,’\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, I\u2019m not going to blow somebody\u2019s phone up. It\u2019s his decision to make. He\u2019s earned that right. He\u2019s done this for 20-some years. He\u2019s won here. He\u2019s won in L.A. He\u2019s won everywhere he\u2019s went. So at the end of the day, if he was here, we welcome him. If he\u2019s not, he\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, now it\u2019s like he\u2019s the enemy,\u201d Mitchell continued. \u201cBut you understand what Cleveland fans and what the media is going to be because he\u2019s LeBron James. So ultimately for me, my summer didn\u2019t change. I was like, I\u2019m just going to focus on doing what I got to do, and if it\u2019s real, then it happens, and it happens. But I don\u2019t like to live in the maybes or the what-ifs. \u2018Cause then you start going all over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers, 76ers, Golden State Warriors<\/a>, Miami Heat<\/a>, and Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> were the five teams in the running for James. The 41-year-old\u2019s two former teams were seen as the most likely destinations.<\/p>\n

James had spent 11 seasons with the Cavaliers, his hometown team, and four with the Heat. The 22-time All-Star won two titles in Miami and one in Cleveland. The chance to win another at home was Mitchell\u2019s public pitch to James<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s home. We\u2019ve done it once; let\u2019s do it again. Simple as that,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll cry [when he retires], but it would be great to be a part of that if it\u2019s his last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, Mitchell won\u2019t be part of that final year. James, who averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game for the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> in 2025-26, shocked the basketball world by signing with the 76ers. Not many predicted that, and Mitchell didn\u2019t think he was going there either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it was Philly,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI did think it was either us or Golden State, but hey, it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

James signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the 76ers with a player option for the second year. They had reportedly only become an option after they acquired Jaylen Brown<\/a> from the Boston Celtics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers\u2019 failure to acquire Brown ended up being one of three reasons James turned them down<\/a>. The other two were that family was not a factor and that they had traded away Darius Garland<\/a>, a fellow Klutch Sports Group client.<\/p>\n

James did have a secret meeting with the Cavaliers\u2019 front office<\/a>, so he was definitely considering going back home. It just wasn\u2019t to be, though.<\/p>\n

Mitchell isn\u2019t dwelling on James rejecting the Cavaliers. This decision aside, the seven-time All-Star had a fabulous offseason, too. Mitchell and the Cavaliers agreed on a massive four-year, $273 million extension<\/a> in July. Then on Aug. 1, the 30-year-old married Grammy Award-winning singer Coco Jones.<\/p>\n

So Mitchell, who put up 27.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in 2025-26, had plenty of reasons to smile. Now, while he has a wedding ring, he doesn\u2019t have a championship ring.<\/p>\n

The New York Knicks<\/a> swept Mitchell and the Cavaliers in the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals. The manner of that series loss has led to them not being seen as serious title contenders in 2026-27. James\u2019 arrival would have changed that, and you can\u2019t help but feel what might have been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Donovan Mitchell could have been teammates with LeBron James today, but the NBA icon chose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-913503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}