Donovan Mitchell ‘trending better,’ but the Cavs aren’t taking more injury risks

For the fourth consecutive game, Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell was on the sidelines with a right groin strain. Before his team got its revenge on the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson shared why he’s taken the cautious route.

“Trending better, but it’s obvious we know our schedule,” Atkinson said. “I know you guys [the media] don’t like this, but [if this were a] playoff game, he plays today. I think we don’t want this thing nagging him.

“I’ve got to admit I was part of the push, like, ‘Don’t, think about it. We want you healthy for the playoffs. We want you healthy for this stretch run.’ We all kind of collaborated on the conversation, and we got to this decision. I think it’s a smart decision. Don’t want this thing nagging going into crunch time here.”

It’s hard to fault Cleveland for being extra vigilant; all you have to consider is the horrible injury luck it’s had all season.

Between Darius Garland’s toe problems, the amount of broken fingers (Keon Ellis and James Harden as of late, but Jarrett Allen earlier in the season), and re-aggravations of soft tissue injuries, such as Evan Mobley’s calf that held him out two different times, the group has been snakebitten.

And so, Atkinson and the performance staff take these matters seriously and come together to make the best decision for both the player and the squad.

“I think we’re all over it, like every NBA team is, right,” Atkinson said. “There’s this collective research and evaluation, and there’s numbers behind all this, right? There’s in-game performance numbers. We do have an elaborate testing lab in our facility. I think we’re cutting edge in terms of NBA organizations, so we know how important it is. So, we put a ton of resources into it, and that’s probably a frustrating answer.

“You say, ‘Well, why does it happen?’ I don’t think anybody’s figured it out yet, and the game’s faster. It is. It’s faster. There’s more [accelerations and decelerations], more jumping. We’re getting these numbers, right? It’s staring us in the face. So, we just go in-depth. We talk about stints, longer stints, shorter stints, even with Evan. We do deep dives on all this stuff, so I can tell you we’re on it, searching for the answers.”

Allen, after a terrific month as one of the most, if not the dominant, big man of the league in February, was held out of the second half against the Pistons because of a knee-to-knee injury sustained in the early moments of the third quarter.

Dean Wade’s been dealing with a nagging sprained ankle, as has Dennis Schroder. These cases, all different but equally frustrating, serve as examples of how every time the Cavs get a body back or multiple players healthy, something else has to go awry soon after.

All that is being said, with Max Strus still out of action despite the Cavs’ latest positive update about his progression on Tuesday. He had a Jones fracture in his left foot before training camp, so that is bone-related rather than muscle-related.

Rarely is anybody 100 percent at this time of year; it’s also rare the way it’s happened and how quickly it has for Cleveland this season. That’s what Atkinson and Co. get for how healthy the 2024-25 regular season was, apparently.

Cavs want to be as healthy as possible for postseason

So, it’s understandable why the Cavs are sacrificing games right now to be ready for the postseason, which is all of a sudden a month away.

Mitchell has been to the playoffs before and knows how to get his body back on track. He’s an elite-level talent who doesn’t need much of a runway to get himself going again, and since it’s only been eight days of action missed, it’s probably for the better. The 29-year-old and Harden have established chemistry with one another quickly, and there’s a huge four-day rest period before Cleveland takes on the Boston Celtics coming up; chances are Mitchell will be back for that one.

After that, only a couple of games will truly test the wine and gold. We’re only so far from that point in the season when postseason teams are simply jockeying for the position they’re already in, rather than making significant jumps in the standings. The others are in a developmental stage, looking to identify the talent on their respective rosters for the future.

As Harden said before, these games will be like practices for the Cavs, who don’t have many left on the schedule. It’ll be an opportunity to get reps, learn each other’s tendencies, and get used to lineup patterns. That’s likely more important for Dennis Schroder, Keon Ellis, and himself than it is for Mitchell.

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