5 Cavaliers Who Will Leave Cleveland in the New Year

4. Donovan Mitchell

Time is ticking on the Donovan Mitchell era in Cleveland. Everyone knows how much a big-market team would love to fulfill his dreams of playing in the bright lights, something he hasn't been quite afforded in Utah or at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The one way to convince Mitchell, who essentially has just one season left on his deal with a player option he's sure to decline for the 2025-25 campaign, is to win big. So far, the Cavs haven't done that.

They squandered an incredible 51-31 season in Mitchell's team debut, getting bounced in an embarrassing 4-1 loss to the New York Knicks during the first round of the playoffs.

They're now off to a middling 17-13 start and pale in comparison to Eastern Conference juggernauts like the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. At this point, there's no reason to believe a deep playoff run is coming, and even that likely won't be enough to make Mitchell happy.

As a result, Cleveland would be wise to explore a Mitchell mega-deal this offseason. Losing him for nothing simply can't happen, which means cutting bait before it's too late. A trade would net the Cavaliers a haul of capital and young players to hit the reset button.