CLEVELAND — According to multiple reports, the Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to a trade to acquire 3-time All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz.
Here are five things to know about the Cavs' newest star player:
Spida
Since entering the league in 2017, Mitchell has had one of the league's most recognizable nicknames: Spida. In a video posted to the NBA's official Twitter account, the Louisville product explained he got the nickname from a former teammate's father as a nod to his playing style.
“I had long arms and I was quick to getting a lot of steals,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t think it would correlate to where I am now. He never called me by my first name and to this day, he still doesn’t. He’ll text me, ‘Spida, how ya doing?’ Spiderman was one of my favorites growing up and it just stuck with me. That’s where it all came from.”
The Decision
Shortly after the trade sending him to Cleveland was first announced, Mitchell took to Twitter to share a childhood photo of him wearing an old LeBron James Cavs jersey.
That isn't Mitchell's only tie to James.
As fate would have it, the-then-9-year-old was in the crowd at the Greenwich Boys and Girls Club when James infamously announced that he was leaving Cleveland to join the Miami Heat in a televised special called "The Decision." Speaking to Yahoo's Dan Devine in 2018, Mitchell recalled the experience of being on hand to witness the historic moment.
“It was in Greenwich, Conn., and I went to school in Greenwich [at Greenwich Country Day School],” he said. “So, as a big LeBron fan in the sixth grade, I forced my mom to let me go. I wanted him to go to Miami. I wanted him to get his first ring.
“The people there who were Knicks fans … they weren’t too happy about it,” Mitchell added. “I almost got hit in the head with a Snapple bottle because they were just throwing stuff around outside. It was cool. I was just celebrating, so it was pretty cool.”
LGM
If you follow Mitchell on social media, then you're well aware that he's an avid fan of the New York Mets and it isn't hard to find out why: Mitchell's father, Donovan Sr., is a former minor league baseball player who has spent more than 20 years working in the Mets organization, including in his current role as the franchise's director of player relations.
In fact, Mitchell began his high school career at the Canterbury School as a two-sport star and even thought his future might be brighter on the diamond than it was on the hardwood. His baseball career, however, came to an end during his sophomore year after the then-shortstop broke his wrist colliding with his team's catcher while chasing down a pop-up, an injury that forced him to miss the following AAU summer basketball circuit.
"That's the thing people don't realize—that injury changed my outlook on everything," Mitchell told Bleacher Report's David Gardner in 2017. "It wasn't like I was a jerk or an a----le, but I had to learn to appreciate things a little more. After I broke my wrist, that's when I learned."
Donovan-sanity
While he would ultimately place second behind Ben Simmons in Rookie of the Year voting, Mitchell didn't leave his debut campaign empty-handed. Paying tribute to one of his childhood idols, Vince Carter, Mitchell won the Slam Dunk Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
Murray vs. Mitchell
Of all of the highlights from the "NBA Bubble" in 2020, one of the most memorable was the first-round series between Mitchell's Jazz and the Denver Nuggets.
Going toe to toe with Jamal Murray, the young guards put on a clinic, with Mitchell averaging 36.3 points per game and Murray averaging 31.6 points over the course of the seven-game series. While the Nuggets ultimately won the series with an 80-78 victory in Game 7, Mitchell's showing in the series -- in which he scored 57 points, 51 points and 44 points in separate games -- established his status as one of the league's top primetime performers.
