Donovan Mitchell sparks debate with his Kyrie Irving take

Jan 2, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) talks to a television reporter after the game between the Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mitchell set the franchise record for points with 71. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ current star guard has a lot of love for the former one.

Cavaliers All-Star Donovan Mitchell sparked debate this week with the opinion that he gave about Dallas Mavericks counterpart Kyrie Irving. Cleveland and Dallas met on Tuesday night for a game that had an absolutely wild ending.

Mitchell said that he believes the Cavaliers should retire Irving’s jersey.

“He should have his jersey retired for sure,” said Mitchell of Irving, per SI. “Being able to do what he did at the highest level, year after year, to go from not winning to being able to do that and have that impact, I think is something that was truly remarkable.

“I feel like him, K-Love [Kevin Love], and Bron [LeBron James] should all have their jerseys retired,” Mitchell added. “I think he should definitely have it retired… Only championship in team history, and he was a huge part of that. I think that’s something that should never go overlooked.”

Mitchell is correct in that Irving, though he was a sidekick to James, still played an enormous role in the Cavaliers’ only championship in 2016. Irving hit the title-winning shot in Game 7 against the Golden State Warriors that year and also made four All-Star teams in Cleveland.

Others online pointed out though that the Cavaliers were a lottery team in the three seasons of Irving before James arrived. Some Cleveland fans still have a bitter taste in their mouths too from when Irving forced his way out in 2017, even if the team still had a window to win another championship while James was there.

It is worth noting that Cleveland has since given Irving’s old No. 2 jersey to two different players — former guard Collin Sexton and current guard Ty Jerome, who still wears it. Nevertheless though, Irving has a much better chance of getting the number retired in Cleveland than he does with any of his other former teams.