Mitchell missed Cleveland’s final four games with an ankle injury.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell missed the last four games of the regular season after injuring his ankle in the April 6 loss to the Sacramento Kings. Mitchell initially hurt his ankle in the third quarter, but came back to play the final 15 minutes before being shut down for the remainder of the regular season.
It doesn’t appear that the ankle injury is going to keep him off the court. Mitchell was a full participant in practice on Thursday afternoon, as were the rest of his teammates.
“Really good,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said after practice on Thursday when asked about how Mitchell in particular looked. “He did everything. We did some live stuff today. He was a full go. No restrictions.”
The Cavs have been intentional with keeping the minutes off their best players, including Mitchell, considering the team wasn’t fully healthy going into the playoffs last season. That is something Atkinson has been bringing up since media day last fall.
“That was the most important thing,” Atkinson said when asked whether he could take pride in the team being healthy. “I’m really proud of the plan we had. How we managed guys, how they managed themselves, our performance team, or medical team. It’s such a group effort. It’s a lot of planning that goes into it.”
This approach seemed to work for Mitchell. The 71 games he played this season were the most he’s participated in since the 2018-19 season. Additionally, the 31.4 minutes per game were the least he’s played in his career and were nearly four minutes less than what he averaged last year.
The Cavs have a chance to win a championship this season. But for them to do so, they need their best players available and ready to play. Right now, it seems as if Mitchell and his teammates will be ready for Game 1 of the first round on Sunday.