'It'll be special': Cavs' Darius Garland pushed Donovan Mitchell in pre-trade workouts

CLEVELAND — Darius Garland was seated in the front row at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, when Donovan Mitchell essentially told on himself.

The two All-Star guards worked out together twice this summer, not knowing they would become backcourt mates with the Cavs’ stunning Sept. 1 trade with the Utah Jazz that brought Mitchell to Cleveland.

At the time, Mitchell believed he’d be dealt to the New York Knicks, which he considers his hometown team. But Mitchell confessed that Garland showed such shooting prowess during those sessions that he pushed Mitchell to another level.

“Darius doesn’t know this. The two times we worked out, I consider myself a pretty good shooter, but he’s right there and I’m trying to keep up with him,” Mitchell said during his introductory press conference Wednesday. “I’m like, ‘Jesus. Come on, here we go.’

“He made me have to raise my level in a workout. If you can bring that on a night-to-night basis, in a workout, in a practice, you get to a game now on the same team, you know it’ll be special.”

Mitchell noted what those workouts foreshadowed.

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“You’re thinking this is your destination and it turns out it’s right here next to you and you’re not even looking,” Mitchell said.

Sitting with Cavs guard Caris LeVert, Garland smiled broadly when he heard those comments.

That revelation from Mitchell got Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff thinking about the future and beyond. A three-time All-Star who turned 26 on Sept. 7, Mitchell has three years remaining on his contract and a player option in 2025-26.

“When you get great players in a position where they have to be even more competitive, then that becomes the habit of every single practice,” Bickerstaff told the Beacon Journal. “Then you imagine what the games become and how they continue to push each other to get better and better.

“It’s not something that’s just a one-year thing. With the youth of our team, imagine if they compete as hard as they can compete for the next three or four years and they’re just 25 or 26 years old at that point. Imagine what you can have.”

When his agent called him about the trade, Mitchell was as ecstatic as Bickerstaff and Cavs President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman. Mitchell figured the Cavs would have to part with one or more from a group that included Garland, LeVert, center Jarrett Allen, and center/forward Evan Mobley. But that didn’t happen, as the Cavs gave up guards Collin Sexton and rookie Ochai Agbaji, forward Lauri Markkanen, three protected first-round picks and swapped two picks.

“I was golfing and I was running around crazy, mainly when I figured out who we kept in the deal because I didn't know who was in the trade,” Mitchell said. “When I found out we kept DG and JA and Evan and Caris, and all these guys, I was like, ‘Wow. We’ve got a talented group that was third in the East and then obviously injuries came about, and that's before I got here.

“We're young, but we're hungry. We're ready. It's weird saying I'm probably one of the older guys on the team.”

Five Cavs — Kevin Love (34), Robin Lopez (34), Ricky Rubio (31), Raul Neto (30) and Cedi Osman (27) — are older than Mitchell and two more – Dylan Windler and Dean Wade — turn 26 later this year.

Mitchell knows the younger Cavs will look to him as their leader.

“Coming into a situation where I am one of the older guys, I've got to get to sleep a little bit earlier,” he joked. “Just being able to use my voice, do what I've been doing, it comes innately to me.

“And just being able to understand that it's gonna take time. It's not like it's just 'boom' right away. It's not like October 5th hits and everything's just gonna be perfect. There's gonna be some trials and tribulations. On the flip side, being a leader is also being able to listen and being able to receive and not just being the one giving out criticism or praise. I think being able to listen as well is huge, and I'm excited for that.”

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Not only does Mitchell have Garland to push him, but he’s also reunited with Rubio, his mentor for his first two years in the league with the Jazz. Rubio is rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered on Dec. 28 and won’t be ready to start the season, which opens on Oct. 19 at Toronto.

“That's my guy, man,” Mitchell said of Rubio. “I call him Jesus; he cut his hair now, but back when he was in Utah, he had the hair and the whole bit. He’s a guy that … helped me lock-in on the little details as far as my work, as far as my craft, as far as the possession game. Just being able to watch him lead our team from the point guard position, allowing me to kinda take the reins as a young guy, which I didn't even expect coming into the league, and just kinda teaching me the little things throughout the game.

“I'm forever grateful for Ricky Rubio, and to be back here with him — he's a little bit older now, but he's still [the] light-hearted, fun guy that I've always known. I've gone to Spain to see him and hung out with him, so to be back here with him is truly special.”

The Cavs finished 44-38 last year, their 22-game improvement the second-largest in franchise history. But injuries down the stretch, especially the loss of Allen with a fractured finger, sent them into the play-in tournament and they were eliminated with losses to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks.

Altman said making the playoffs was part of the motivation for pursuing Mitchell, who has appeared in 39 career playoff games, never missing the postseason during his five years in the league, and compiled a 17-22 record.

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Altman is close with Jazz General Manager Justin Zanik and Altman said the Cavs “hung around, hung around and hung around and when [the Jazz] decided to pivot we were there.”

“I think the experience to get [to the playoffs] was huge for us,” Altman said of Mitchell. “It makes Caris more dangerous, it makes Darius more dangerous. It helps Evan. I can’t wait to see what that looks like. It gives us an entirely different dynamic.

“Of course, you’re thinking about, ‘What if we had Donovan in that Atlanta Hawks game?’ Hopefully it won’t be that this year. We’ll see, though.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavs' Darius Garland challenged Donovan Mitchell in workouts