Donovan Mitchell diary: ‘The job is not done’
Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star talks about bringing franchise back to Eastern Conference finals, going home, his fiancée’s support and more
DETROIT — Donovan Mitchell became the Cleveland Cavaliers’ team DJ when he put a mammoth speaker by his chair in the visiting locker room Sunday night, connected his iPhone and played some victory music from Drake’s new album, “Iceman.”
This celebration came after Mitchell and the Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with a Game 7 win over the Detroit Pistons.
“I’ve been waiting to play Drake all day,” a temporarily satisfied Mitchell told his remaining Cavaliers teammates with a smile.
“For a few hours,” the Cavaliers’ star guard relished the moment he had yearned for nearly a decade.
The nine-year NBA veteran advanced to the conference finals for the first time in his career after scoring a game-high 26 points in a 125-94 road win in Game 7. The Cavaliers are in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since LeBron James led them there in 2018.
Mitchell, an Elmsford, N.Y., native, is also going back to New York City to face the well-rested New York Knicks in Game 1 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
“It’s been nine long years,” Mitchell told Andscape. “I’m in a situation where you manifest it, you think about it and then when it gets here, you have really a few hours to be happy about it today. You got to move on. But it’s a blessing to be able to do this with my teammates, our family. It’s a milestone. It’s something big, for sure, but at the end of the day, it still doesn’t mean anything without a [championship] ring.
“So, this is great. I’m going to enjoy it for a few more hours. But we’re four wins away from an NBA Finals. It’s a tall task. It’s not going to be easy for us coming up, and it’s not an easy team we face. So that’s kind of where my mind is at.”
During the 2025-26 NBA season, Mitchell has exclusively shared insight into his life on and off the court with the Cavaliers in his monthly diary on Andscape. Draymond Green, Vince Carter, Trae Young, CJ McCollum, Fred VanVleet, De’Aaron Fox, Cade Cunningham, James Wiseman, Josh Jackson, Bradley Beal and, most recently, Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero have participated in previous Andscape diaries.
For his NBA career, Mitchell is averaging 25.1 points, 4.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game in 609 regular-season games for the Cavaliers and the Utah Jazz. The former University of Louisville star is also a two-time All-NBA selection and the winner of the 2018 NBA dunk contest. Mitchell, who is 29, finished the 2025-26 season averaging 27.9 points, 5.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals, and earned a seventh consecutive All-Star nod. He and the Cavs made a title push by adding James Harden at the trade deadline.
The Cavaliers finished the regular season with a 52-30 record and the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Weary Cleveland needed seven games to dispose of the fifth-seed Toronto Raptors in the first round and another seven to beat the top-seeded Pistons.
The following is Mitchell’s eighth NBA diary with Andscape this seasno. It was recorded late Sunday night after Game 7 in Detroit. Mitchell is trying to lead the Cavaliers to their first NBA championship since 2016.
Meanwhile, the Knicks have not won a championship since 1973 and last went to the Finals in 1999. The last time the Knicks played Mitchell and the Cavaliers in the playoffs was the 2023 first round, a series New York won in five games.
(And unless you’re his fiancée or immediate family, please don’t hit Mitchell up for Madison Square Garden playoff tickets).
Andscape
We won this Game [7] with just our force. We wanted it more, playing together as a group and trusting each other. I think that’s what it’s going to take to keep going. Thank you. Appreciate it. Awesome. Ooh, they mad at me.
It’s really a testament on your mental. Sure, the pressure, the expectation, almost losing in the first round, that’s one. Almost losing again after having a 3-2 lead [against Detroit]. Your mind can go places if you allow it to go to past experiences when I’ve been up [with the Utah Jazz in 2021] against the [Los Angeles] Clippers, or I’ve been up against Denver [with a] 3-1 lead [in 2020]. You can definitely go there, or you can allow yourself to just be still in the moment. When you have those moments to pull from, it allows you to kind of be like, “All right, cool.” You can be level-headed. And it also helps when you have some of the greatest teammates. The guys who are just equally right there with you on an emotional level from a mental standpoint. And I think that always helps for sure.
My earliest memory [of going to a Knicks home game] was wild. Probably watching Melo [Carmelo Anthony] and [Amar’e] Stoudemire play. … I’ve never been to a playoff game in the Garden as a fan, but I’ve definitely played there, obviously. I know the city is going to be on fire. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I know Cleveland is going to be on fire. This is a fanbase on both sides that are very rowdy. It’s going to be exciting. They’re a really good team. … So, I’m going to stay in my house, which is great. But at the end of the day, we’re here to do a job and get to win.
When you grow up in New York, you understand how long it’s been for [the Knicks] just getting to the Finals, let alone winning. And you’re the team and you’re the guy that’s in the way of that; it’s definitely something you want to go out there and take away. But I’m sure they’re equally as hungry. They’ve been at home waiting to see who they’re going to play.
A rested Knicks team, they got a lot. They got Jalen Brunson, obviously KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns], Mikal [Bridges] and OG [Anunoby], and they’re playing really well. Josh Hart and their bench has been great. They do a lot of different things. I think they’ve found themselves after going down 2-1 against Atlanta [in the first round]. So, whether it’s playing a little bit through everybody and making it definitely tougher and difficult, then we’ll watch the film and be ready. But they’re a talented team and we’ll be ready to go.”
Guarding Jalen Brunson, man, it’s by committee. He can get down there [in the paint], he can manipulate the game, he can get to his spots, knock down shots. We got to make it tough on him and understand that obviously, he’s the head of the snake. No one guy can stop him. It’s going to be a group effort. There are different things that we can do. We’ve got a lot of respect for him and that team, and as a group we have to be locked in.
Being a New Yorker playing in the Finals is just different. You don’t take it for granted. You grew up around it. You grew up a fan of it. And now to be an enemy in it is special, for sure. We played there a few years ago [in the playoffs] and we got whupped. The remaining core guys that are here remember that. So, we have to go out and be ready. It’s an amazing opportunity for us and for me being back home, but we got to go in there and take it.
Tickets for the East finals? No. The tickets back home, just no. I’m sorry. But a lot of my friends and family have done pre-work. They have done the work and got tickets before that, depending on us getting there. So, shout out to my family and friends for doing that. If you’re not my direct family or my fiancée, they know the deal. They will figure it out.
Andscape
The biggest challenge [with one day off between series] is the mental. Not allowing yourself to be satisfied with advancing and understanding that they’re going to be rested physically as well as mentally. So, for us just coming in there, we’re just trying to get one, just get that first one and then go from there. And if we do that, try to get another one. And if we don’t, we’ll try to get the next one. But I think the biggest thing is just keep feeding off what we’ve been doing and don’t let up.
It means the world [for the Cavs to make the East finals for the first time since 2018]. When I came here, it was one of those things where we just continued to just find a way to get better. And when [Cavaliers president] Koby [Altman] made the trade for me, it was just like, “How can we find a way to get there?” Obviously, the Cavs fans want us to get there immediately. We had an opportunity last year. We had [the Eastern Conference] No.1 seed and we blew it, and now we’ve responded.
You’ve got to a place that the organization hasn’t been in a while, but now we’re looking to continue to use that and go forward. When you have the support of the fanbase and ownership, it’s special. Even riding around, you just feel the energy in the city. To be the guy with this team, and to have the teammates I have as a group, that’s special.
For myself and James [Harden], I don’t want to give too much to the media as far as narratives, because whether we won or lost this game [Sunday], I don’t think this describes either one of us as players and how talented we are and what we’ve been able to do in our career. But you also understand that there is the reality of a narrative and that it’s something. There’s a reason why he chose to come here. For myself and him, the job is not done. It’s great. Smiles. Fantastic. But in 12 hours, it’s over with.
I was so locked in when I ran into [my fiancée Coco Jones sitting in a baseline seat during Game 7]. In the back of my mind, I knew it was her. But I was so locked in I was trying to come out and make a point that I didn’t even register until the timeout when I walked over and asked if she was OK because then I was like, “Oh s‑‑‑, I almost ran over my fiancée.” So, I had to tell you where I was at mentally.
I was so here and then, after the game, man, she’s special. She’s a big reason why I am where I am today in this situation where I’m playing the way I’m playing: When you have somebody that is home and just being around them, you feel like you’re at home. I think the world’s starting to see us in these moments a lot more now. But it was one of those moments where I was almost going to cry because she’s been there for me through the injuries, through the bad performances, the good performances when you do so well and still don’t get what you want, and when you do poorly and you don’t get what you want.
This girl flew to Paris for two days and came back just to make sure she was there. When you see somebody who is equally as talented and doing her thing on her side — she came to the [Game 7 win against Toronto in Cleveland], went to the Met Gala [in New York City], and came back. To see the sacrifices that she’s making outside of my mom and my sister and my pop, I’ve never had that.
I love that girl to death, and it’s just one of those things where she’s just home. I almost broke down, but I kept it together, But that moment, it really shows what we’re about. I was trying not to look at her the whole game just because she was starting to smile. I was like, “No, I’m trying to be locked in.”