CLEVELAND, Ohio — The warning signs are no longer subtle. Donovan Mitchell is being asked to carry a workload that feels increasingly misaligned with what the Cavs will need from him when the games matter most.
On the latest episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, host Ethan Sands and cleveland.com columnist Jimmy Watkins zeroed in on a trend that threatens to undermine Cleveland’s postseason hopes: Mitchell is logging heavy minutes at a rate that suggests urgency now, rather than preservation later.
Following the Cavs’ 131-122 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Watkins laid out the numbers in stark terms.
“Tonight was Donovan Mitchell’s 15th game this season playing 35 minutes or more. He had 16 of those all last season,” Watkins said. “We’re in January. ... That doesn’t bode well down the stretch.”
This is not a calculated ramp-up designed to harden Mitchell for the playoffs. It is a byproduct of necessity.
“The Cavs played Darius, Evan and Donovan all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter tonight because they needed to have all of them on the court to keep pace with the Timberwolves,” Watkins noted.
That reliance is beginning to show physical and mental wear. Watkins pointed to a moment during the broadcast that crystallized the concern.
“Serena Winters had a sideline report tonight where she’s talking about Donovan taking accountability in a huddle for being tired during a fourth quarter possession tonight. That’s because this guy’s empty in the gas tank during these regular season games.”
For a team with postseason aspirations, those moments are alarming. They signal a structural issue in how the Cavs are surviving games instead of controlling them.
The expectation entering the season was that Mitchell would shoulder an outsized load early while Darius Garland and Max Strus worked their way back. The problem is that the burden has not meaningfully eased as the calendar has turned.
“Whether or not he can trust other players around him to make decisions, to play hard when he’s not on the floor is something that’s difficult,” Sands said. “And it seems like the energy and the intensity dips.”
The pattern has become predictable.
When Mitchell rests, the Cavs stall. When deficits balloon — like the 20-point hole they faced in the third quarter against Minnesota — the solution becomes asking Mitchell to rescue the game. Every comeback attempt costs more fuel.
That calculus would be concerning under any circumstances. It becomes more troubling given Mitchell’s recent postseason history.
“This guy’s had nagging injuries during the last two playoff runs. I don’t like that,” Watkins said.
Minutes are only part of the equation.
Usage tells the rest of the story. Mitchell entered the Timberwolves game with a usage rate of 32.7%, the highest of his Cavaliers tenure and a figure that mirrors the closing chapter of his time in Utah, when offensive responsibility narrowed around him.
“I don’t think the Cavs plan by year four of this construction was for Donovan Mitchell to have to expend that level of energy on a team with two young co-stars that could grow alongside him,” Watkins said. “This is what the last three years have been for to get you guys ready. Year four, we’re still here.”
The Cavs will see Minnesota again Saturday at Rocket Arena. How Cleveland manages Mitchell’s minutes will be worth monitoring, but the larger issue extends beyond a single matchup.
If this usage pattern holds, the risk is clear. The Cavs may arrive at the postseason with the player they need most already running on fumes.
The message from Wine and Gold Talk was unmistakable: asking Mitchell to survive the regular season is one thing. Expecting him to peak after it is becoming another matter entirely.
Here’s the podcast for this week: