Donovan Mitchell and other members from the Cleveland Cavaliers answered fan questions from Reddit ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Ahead of Media Day, members from the Cleveland Cavaliers were featured in this month’s Reddit AMA. Check out the best responses below.
Question: When did you guys have that ‘oh yeah, I’m definitely going to league?’
Answer: It was one of my first starts against the Knicks at home in L.A. I actually did pretty well on Carmelo through the first three quarters, and then Carmelo started being Carmelo and lit me up in the fourth. So, “Welcome to the NBA: Carmelo Anthony Edition.” – Larry Nance Jr.
Answer: I didn’t have my moment till my senior year, midway through my senior year, so it took a while. [How’d it feel?] It felt good, never even thought about it beforehand. So when it came into my mind like that, I felt very accomplished. – Dean Wade
Question: Do you remember the first time you’ve met one of your current teammates before entering the league? What was your impression of them, what was their impression of you, and how have your impressions changed? Can it be about basketball or not?
Answer: Actually, Thomas Bryant, who’s our newest teammate. I’ve known Thomas since I was nine. We played AAU against each other, so I’ve known him since, yeah, since I was nine. And then next I would probably say I met Evan when he was in high school. We played pickup against him and his brother Zay, probably my third or fourth year in the league. So that was pretty wild. Right after COVID in L.A., we played pickup with these two kids, and they were like, “Yeah, this kid is gonna be special.” So it’s crazy to see how far we’ve come. – Donovan Mitchell
Question: Do you get chances to interact with your fans outside the US often? With the NBA playing more games in Europe does that excite you?
Answer: I think it’s cool to actually see how many people actually love the game of basketball that are, like, from different parts of the world, some that don’t even speak the language I speak. It’s just cool that we relate to just a simple game that everybody can enjoy. – Lonzo Ball
Answer: Yeah, it’s cool. Our experience in Paris a couple years ago was really fun. I had never been there; it was so cool. Having lived internationally for two years myself, living in Nicaragua and learning Spanish, and being able to occasionally interact in Spanish with other people is really cool. So I think it’s awesome. – Sam Merrill
Question: Question for all: If every NBA team had to compete in the Hunger Games, who on the Cavs would you send?
Answer: I think I’d take Donovan with me. He’s just built for it, he’s just strong as an ox and is pretty athletic, so I think I’d take him with me and we’d conquer a lot of things together. [Do you think you would do well?] Yes. I think I’d do very well. – Max Strus
Question: To the whole team: who’s the funniest teammate now that Niang and Tristan are gone?
Answer: Me. – Donovan Mitchell
Answer: For myself I would say Donovan or Larry Nance. I’ve known Donovan since high school and he’s always been a little bit goofy with me. And then Larry. Larry was my young Vet when I was a rookie in L.A so we were always close together. He would always make cool inside jokes that we’d always laugh at. – Thomas Bryant
Question: Favorite Cavs jersey of all-time?
Answer: Could you tilt the camera up in the rafters real quick? There’s a 22 up there—that’s probably my favorite. A little biased, but outside of mine, that one. – Larry Nance Jr.
Answer: The light blue ones last year, they were fire – Tyrese Proctor
Question: Who’s the best cook on the team?
Answer: I feel like Dean Wade could grill up some mean steaks. – Jarrett Allen
Question: @JA What was your favourite part of your honeymoon?
Answer: I went to Africa and we did a safari on the honeymoon. And the best part was that we got to see a lion chase down a buffalo—it was her mom and her baby. The lion just came out of nowhere and chased them down. [We] stopped and watched them eat it. – Jarrett Allen
Question: @JA: If you could make any teammate rock a fro like you had before your hair cut, who would you pick?
Answer: Sam Merrill. Easily Sam Merrill. Put him in a Fro. – Jarrett Allen
Question: @DM Now, with a clear head—what lesson did you take from the loss to Indiana that you can carry forward to come back stronger?
Answer: I think the biggest thing is just understanding that you just gotta keep plugging. No matter how successful the regular season is, no matter how good of a first round you may have had, you just gotta keep going. There’s always gonna be another hurdle you gotta conquer and jump over. If you stop, that’s when you lose. So as long as you keep going and putting your best foot forward, and you believe in yourself, that’s all that matters. – Donovan Mitchell
Question: Hey Donovan, how did it feel being on fire when you dropped 71 against the Bulls?
Answer: When I scored 71, we were down 20, which is the crazy part. We were losing. I only had 16 in the first half, so to go from that to a 71-point night was special. – Donovan Mitchell
Question: Hey Darius, how do you feel in terms of your health this season and have you worked out on any particular aspects of your game this offseason?
Answer: I’ve been working on the mid-range a lot. A lot of threes off the dribble, coming off a lot of screens. But the mid-range is definitely gonna be my go-to this season. – Darius Garland
Question: Darius: what is your Chick-fil-A order?
Answer: Spicy chicken sandwich deluxe, no tomato. Medium fry. I’ve been doing the dragon fruit lemonade recently, so that.. And probably a frosted lemonade or a cookies and cream shake if I’m feeling it, you know? – Darius Garland
Question: What conditioner do you use?
Answer: It’s like the Argan Oil of Morocco or something like that. It’s a little blue bottle. Pretty sure it’s for women, but you know, we’ll make it work. – Max Strus
Question: When in clutch situations, how do you approach whether you should go with the “right” play or if you should just cook up?
Answer: Knowing time and score. Maybe when we’re down, I’ll try to take my time, try to get the right shot but still be aggressive and look at my shot as well. When we’re up, I definitely try to get the right shot for sure, try to waste a little time off the clock. Try to get the ball moving a little bit, let everybody touch it, then try to get the best shot after that. – Darius Garland
Answer: There’s a fine balance. Sometimes the right play is shooting, sometimes the right play is passing. But you trust your gut. I’ve been in this situation a lot of times, and you just honestly believe in whatever you got, and if you make the wrong decision, you live with it and move on. But it’s definitely a fine balance for sure. – Donovan Mitchell
Question: Why do you think you’re the best team?
Answer: We’re a deep team. We have great players—Donovan, Evan, Darius—I could go down the whole list of the roster. But we’re deep as well. We have guys coming off the bench that could have a great game. Craig Porter Jr. is another guy that I feel like people overlook, but he could come in and have 12, nine, and four assists any single night. We just have guys that can do it all. – Jarrett Allen