​The Cleveland Cavaliers have reached a key offseason milestone even as the question of LeBron James’s return to the franchise lingers. On Thursday, the team announced that Donovan Mitchell has signed a four-year contract extension worth $273 million. Mitchell had agreed to the extension on Tuesday, the first day the Cavaliers could make such an offer. He still had two seasons left on his current deal and could have waited to re-sign until next summer, when he would have been eligible for a five-year supermax contract worth $350 million.
“From day one, he embraced this organization, our fans, and our community. He’s been clear in his desire to be here, and that speaks volumes about who he is,” said Koby Altman, the Cavaliers’ president of basketball operations, in a statement. “Securing Donovan long term reflects our shared vision and our commitment to building toward another NBA championship in Cleveland.” Mitchell, now 29, helped lead Cleveland to its first conference final since 2018 this past season. He averaged 27.9 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.5 rebounds during the regular campaign, with 26 points per game in the playoffs. The extension stands as Cleveland’s largest offseason move to date while the league watches to see where James will sign.
Cleveland remains a sentimental destination for James, the Akron, Ohio native who was the No. 1 overall pick by the Cavaliers in 2003 and spent 11 of his 23 seasons in Cleveland (2003–2010 and 2014–2018). He left for Miami in 2010 but returned in 2014 to lead the franchise to its first NBA title in 2016. Meanwhile, James Harden—acquired by Cleveland at the trade deadline—also is weighing a new deal to stay with the Cavaliers after turning down his player option for 2026–27, though it’s expected he will wait to see how the rest of Cleveland’s offseason moves unfold before deciding.
Thus far, the Cavaliers have seen Dean Wade leave for Philadelphia and Larry Nance Jr. depart for Indiana, but they did re-sign reserve center Thomas Bryant. The contract extension for Mitchell currently ranks as the fourth-largest in NBA history by total value, behind Boston’s $314 million extension for Jayson Tatum and the $285 million deal given to Jaylen Brown (who now plays for Philadelphia), as well as Nikola Jokic’s $276 million extension with Denver. That ranking presumes Mitchell exercises a player option worth nearly $76 million for the 2030–31 season. The deal also features an average annual value of just over $68 million, which is an NBA record, narrowly surpassing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s $67.9 million average with Oklahoma City, and includes a full trade kicker.
Over four seasons with Cleveland since being traded from Utah in 2022, Mitchell has averaged 26.7 points per game. The extension confirms his role as a cornerstone for the Cavaliers as they pursue another championship run.