Donovan Mitchell diary: ‘There’s room for me to grow as a player’

MINNEAPOLIS – On Jan. 7, Renee Nicole Macklin Good was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, minutes from the Cleveland Cavaliers’ team hotel. Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers learned about the fatal shooting after practice that same day, and shortly after, the six-time NBA All-Star saw the video of the shooting for the first time.

It was suggested that the Cavaliers players and personnel stay in their team hotel. Mitchell canceled dinner plans and was shaken by the tragic event that happened so close to his team, which was scheduled to play the Minnesota Timberwolves the next day.

“We’re in a bubble in the NBA,” Mitchell told Andscape on Jan. 7. “We travel together. We’re kind of in this space. And if it’s not for social media, we don’t really necessarily know what’s going on. So, we got alerted to a shooting that happened about 10 minutes away from us here in Minnesota. And it’s crazy. It’s scary. This is just the world we live in. Things are crazy right now being so close and having it be in such a space where you’re right there. I’m not saying we’re right there, but when it’s something that’s close and we have to basically be on lockdown in the hotel and can’t leave it, it makes you really think about things outside of just the game of basketball.

“Sometimes you get so caught up in like, we talk about the standings. We’re talking about this and that. There’s real life s— happening. And this gives us a moment just to really think about what’s going on and just have that conversation because it’s something that’s just very, in a word, just scary. I had plans on going out to eat. You don’t know what’s about to happen for the rest of the evening. I pray everybody’s safe and I’m praying for everyone’s families.

“As a person who’s a high-profile athlete in this situation, sometimes it’s unfortunate. You get removed. You don’t really know. You don’t have a feel. And you can see it obviously via social media; you can see it on the news. But to be so close to these things in live action, it really makes you sit down and at least when I have a conversation, just be like, ‘Man, what’s going on?’ ”

During the 2025-26 NBA season, Mitchell is exclusively sharing 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.

Mitchell entered this season averaging 24.7 points, 4.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 539 regular-season games for the Cavaliers and the Utah Jazz during eight seasons. The former University of Louisville star is also a two-time All-NBA selection and winner of the 2018 NBA Slam Dunk contest. The 2025 All-NBA first-team selection led the Cavs to an Eastern Conference-best 64-18 record after starting last season 15-0. But their title hopes were dashed with a crushing loss in the second round of the playoffs to the Indiana Pacers.

The injury-plagued Cavaliers are getting healthier with the starting lineup back intact. Mitchell entered Wednesday fifth in the NBA in scoring, averaging a career-high 29.8 points per game to go with 5.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. The Cavaliers split two games against All-Star guard Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves last week and also have some interesting games remaining in January. Cleveland plays the Philadelphia 76ers in back-to-back contests on ESPN on Wednesday and Friday (both 7 p.m. ET), the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day on Jan. 19, and perhaps 41-year-old LeBron James for the last time in Cleveland on Jan. 28 on ABC (7 p.m. ET) when his Los Angeles Lakers come to town.

The following is Mitchell’s fourth diary of the season exclusively with Andscape, filmed on Jan. 7 from the Cavaliers’ team hotel in Minneapolis.

Playing LeBron [Jan. 28 in Cleveland] could be the last game. I personally don’t think it’s the end. Just knowing what that game means to the city, means to him, means to the league, what it means to me, it’s going to be a special one. It’s one of those things where you’ve still got to treat it like it’s a regular game. But I understand that there could be history in that, right? There could be a lot that goes into that game. You want to win. You want to win by a lot, obviously. But I think you also understand that it’s a historic moment, or could be a historical moment, I should say.

He’s done so much for the city of Cleveland and we are looking to replicate that to bring a championship here. But what he’s done being from there and [Cleveland being his] hometown team, that’s every kid’s dream. He’s done it at the highest of levels and that’s going to be a special day.

When I was young and I had the Michael Jordan VHS tapes. ‘The Incredibulls.’ ‘The Unstoppabulls.’ I’ve never watched Michael [live]. All I had was that. So, the person I got to see was ‘Bron. That was who was, in a sense, our Michael Jordan for my generation. To grow up a fan of his. … I joke and tell people all the time when I used to watch our in-arena announcer, now his name is Ahmaad [Crump], I would replicate that in the house and scream and say all the things that Ahmaad says currently to this day.

Even watching them in the [NBA] Finals right before I got into the league my first year. Watching [the Cavs against] Golden State in 2016, 2017. And then my first year of league, I came to the Finals as a [media] correspondent, and I watched them play in Cleveland. To be here now, to be the guy in Cleveland, to be in that spot is pretty surreal just because you know I’ve had the jersey. You see it growing up and just to be able to be in that spot is something that’s pretty wild to me. Just watching [James] growing up take Cleveland to such heights, we as a team would love to do the same.

When you look at the All-Star balloting and standings, you always want to see where you’re at. Outside of my first [season], this is probably the closest to start or not starting. I’ve been in that fifth spot with myself and [Boston Celtics guard] Jaylen [Brown] fighting for that fifth [Eastern Conference All-Star starting] spot. And he’s having a hell of a season, but it’s just something that you want. You want to be in that starting five on the All- Star team. It says a lot about not only what the fans think, but the media and everybody. It’s also a result of the season. I know for us, for me to even be in that spot, we’ve got to win games. You win games, you’re in these situations. It’s about just continuing to find ways to lead us to wins and everything else to take care of itself.

I do think I should be on the [NBA All-Star] World team. But I don’t think people look at me as like a Panamanian basketball player. But I do. I would love to be on the World team if I got a chance. If not, I’m not tripping. Don’t get me wrong. But I definitely want to show love to my Panamanian roots and my people in Panama. It’s going to be fun and competitive. I’m excited for that.

My grandmother being from Panama, she came over here on a boat. No plan, no money. And two generations later here we are. The legacy that she started was with really no idea of how she was going to get going or what she was going to do for her family. There is no me without her. We’re not in this position without her. And to be able to take care of my family … it all starts because of her. We just went back to Panama for the second year in a row this past summer, visited her hometown of Colon. I gave a lot of clothes away to the kids of Colon and looked to continue to go each year just because it’s something that I know the country needs, and I want to show love, spread love, and show our appreciation.

It’s crazy how my routine has become so normal for me that it hasn’t really seemed abnormal. When I hear others talking about it or [ask] what I do on a daily basis, it just seems like it’s just another Tuesday. So, if it’s a road trip, it’s practice, you show up two hours before practice, sometimes two and a half. You’re doing your treatments, doing your stuff, then you go to film. Then you’ve got practice, post practice. Then you get in the cold tub and getting the sauna on the red light [therapy], and you eat on the plane. You get Normatec [an air compression system] on the plane, sometimes watch film depending on what the season’s like, depending on what’s going on, where your mind is. Sometimes you just need a reset from basketball.

Then you land and you play Xbox, talk on the phone, talk to friends, family, whatever. Then your treatment again the night before the game. You wake up in the morning, do shootaround, treatment again after shootaround, go to sleep, get to the arena, treatment again at the arena, and then a pregame lift. And also, film is broken down in these spaces. So, you’ve got film during treatment or film while you’re eating, whatever it is. And then you go out there and play. And it’s an everyday thing. It’s something that, for me, is not leaving any stone unturned. I’m going to figure out a way always and try to find every advantage I possibly can have.

I still think there is way more room for me to grow as a player. I haven’t even reached where I think I’m playing my best basketball. I think there’s more. And I think it’s just being able to figure that out, trying to find the answer, trying to chase perfection, even though you’ll never get there. It instilled from my parents, just that work ethic, but then also being in the locker room with professional baseball players for most of my life. You see them chasing something where if they fail seven out of 10 times, they’re elite. You kind of have to be insane to be in that space. And then growing up playing basketball in New York City, it’s kill or be killed at that point when you’re 10 years old. You just grow up in that space and you just develop it. And as I got better, as I got to the higher levels, I just kept the underrated feeling of something that never really sits well with me. So, it’s just something that just really just lit a fire. And for some people it’s just like, ‘Hey, it’s whatever.’ But for me, it’s like there’s always something that you’re trying to chase.

[Anthony Edwards is] a hell of a player. At 24, he’s elite, dynamic. Gets downhill. Great leader. For a guy like myself, when you think about the best shooting guards in the league, there are really the three that people talk about: Me, him, and Book [Devin Booker], right? So, you definitely enjoy these nights when you get to play against the best. And I know he [Edwards] does. I think it’s a mutual respect. You want to beat each other. You want to be the best. You want to be, ‘The guy.’ And I think for as many years as we’ve been in the league, and same thing with Book, that’s just there. Every night you’re out there, you want to play that way. But obviously, you get amped up and get ready to play because these are the games that you look forward to. It’s definitely a mutual respect, for sure. And these nights are always great, especially when you’re on opposite conferences and we only play twice a year.

There are obvious players I get excited about playing. But there are a lot that I don’t typically share with the public just because I kind of keep working myself. I don’t mean the obvious ones, right? Obviously, you got Ant, you got Book. Obviously, the hometown, the Knicks and [Jalen] Brunson. You got the Celtics, you got the Lakers, right? You got the obvious ones, right? Or the Thunder. Golden State, Denver, right? But then there’s other teams where something may have happened to you before, or you may have had a bad stretch, or you may have heard something, right? There are obviously all those ones that I kind of keep [within] because when you give those external, you give it attention, and that kind of gives them motivation. No, I don’t want to give them any props.

[Warriors forward] Draymond [Green] kind of said it like there was a guy that, for him, he said that somebody busted his ass or made it work or something like that, right? And he didn’t want to say who the person was to give them any more confidence. For me, there are definitely others in the league, and there are definitely things [motivation] that you have. But saying it gives them that confidence. I’m not going to give them that. It’s just like that’s something for me that my brain is as like, ‘No, I’m ready to go.’

[The Detroit Pistons] are tough. They have an identity. I think Cade [Cunningham] has done a great job leading that group. Obviously, they’ve got a lot of talent over there. They’ve got a lot of vets. You got Tobias [Harris], you got Caris [LeVert], you got Duncan Robinson. And their young guys: You you got [Isaiah] Stewart, [Jalen] Duren, [Ausar] Thompson, even Daniss Jenkins, who I know personally, who plays on a two-way [contract] and shouldn’t be on the two-way. He won’t be on the two-way after this season just because he’s talented. Rick Pitino product as well.

They have an identity, and it’s a situation where they’ve found it and they’re clicking and grooving. And they’re in a similar spot to where we were last [season]. The biggest thing for them is just continuing to be that team. But shout out to them, and [head coach] JB Bickerstaff has done a great job as well over there. He continues to get those guys together and continues to take them to that next level.

I’ve been mic’d up before and I’ve said a bunch of things. In that game, in that scenario, like I’m at the [Madison Square] Garden, I’m at home [New York] on Christmas and I’m here, my fiancée is here. And everybody talks about how you play when your crush or like your love, your girl, your fiancée, your wife is at the game. That’s like a thing. You just play better. That’s a real-life thing. I think when you have a woman [fiancée Coco Jones] that hypes you up, supports you, and she’s there at the game, it just gives you a little bit extra boost. Now I was being sarcastic when I said [I only dunk when you’re here]. But the only times I had dunked up until that point were when she was at the game. So, I was kind of letting her and a few people next to her kind of know.

So, to see it take off that way, it was funny to see how many people really related to that. You really get extra boosts when your heart is at the game. That’s something that … It’s pretty dope. It’s pretty cool, but it definitely took off in a way that I don’t think either one of us was anticipating and expecting just from a simple comment.

Hey, this is what love is. This is what Black love is, man. This is what’s truly special. But I do forget where we are at. All I see is her. If we are winning a game and the game is over with, it’s just her. So that’s a testament to who she is to me and who she is as a person.

It’s always special [playing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day]. One, it means that you’re doing something right as a basketball team when you’re playing. It’s a special day. It’s an honorable day, but to see what Martin Luther King has done for us as a people in this world, the impact he’s had and to be able to play and do something that quite frankly he was fighting for … you’re out there on the floor and it’s a blessing. It’s a blessing to be able to honor a man like him who’s sacrificed his life and his legacy, who was basically just trying to get equal rights. We’ve come a long way, and we still have a long way to go, which is unfortunate. But it’s a testament to what he saw many years ago.

[Playing the Thunder on MLK Day] is a major test. But I also think we’re in a situation now where every game is the same. Obviously, when you play the team like the reigning champions and we split last [season] and they blew us out when we played them at their place, you definitely remember those things. At the same token, we’re in a space where we have to treat every game the same. Every game has to come up the same approach. We can’t just get up and play at a different level because it’s the Thunder. We have to continue to bring the same energy we give to the Thunder or the Timberwolves or the Pistons or the [Charlotte] Hornets or the [Atlanta] Hawks. It doesn’t matter. We’re not in a position to say, ‘Oh, today is the day.’ We got to still be consistent throughout.

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