Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson made an argument for star guard Donovan Mitchell to at least finish in the top five of the voting for the league’s MVP award this season.
Atkinson compared the Cavs star to Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is one of the leading candidates to win the MVP this season.
“I hope we will (have Donovan in the top five of MVP voting),” Atkinson said. “If you look at Shai, Shai’s having a great year, Donovan is right there. Just for argument’s sake, best player on best team.”
This season, Mitchell has led the Cavs to a 54-10 record, and they are currently on a 14-game winning streak. Not only does Cleveland have a major lead for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, but it has already clinched a playoff spot as well.
Even though Mitchell doesn’t have the same numbers as Gilgeous-Alexander does, he’s still been an extremely impressive player in the 2024-25 campaign.
An All-Star this season, Mitchell is averaging 24.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 38.4 percent from beyond the arc. Mitchell also already has more win shares this season (6.7) than he did all of last season (6.4).
Since the Cavs currently hold the best record in the NBA, Atkinson does have a legitimate reason to believe that Mitchell belongs in the MVP conversation. However, the Thunder aren’t far behind in win percentage, and they are in first place in their own conference.
Gilgeous-Alexander has been the driving force for Oklahoma City, averaging 32.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 52.5 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from 3-point range.
Not only does the Thunder star average more points, rebounds and assists per game than Mitchell, but he’s racked up an insane 14.1 win shares this season – the most in the NBA.
There’s a real chance that the Cavs and Thunder eventually meet in the NBA Finals this season, and Cavs fans would certainly be fine with Mitchell taking home an NBA Finals MVP award over the MVP honor in the regular season.
This season, the Cavs and Thunder split their two regular-season matchups.