NBA playoffs: What's at stake for James Harden, Donovan Mitchell - ESPN

DONOVAN MITCHELL KNOWS what's at stake.

At the start of this Cavs 2026 playoff run, one of the most pivotal in the post-LeBron James-era teams in Cleveland, Mitchell spoke about the weight of being a superstar. It's lonely at the top, he told ESPN, and few players truly understand the burden it is to carry. He has been doing it a long time.

That's why, he said, he was so grateful to have his new backcourt partner, James Harden, and it's why the Cavaliers acquired the 11-time All-Star — to help Mitchell shoulder the enormous weight of being a team's No. 1 option.

«I appreciate when you have a guy like that,» Mitchell told ESPN. «He's been here. He's been where I'm at and trying to go to. I feel like being able to just talk to each other whenever, good, bad and indifferent.»

The Cavaliers made, perhaps, the boldest move of any team this season when they exchanged 26-year-old former All-Star point guard Darius Garland for the 36-year-old Harden. It teamed Mitchell, 29, up with a kindred spirit and tortured basketball soul.

Harden and Mitchell have made the postseason in every year of their NBA careers, 17 seasons for Harden and nine for Mitchell.

Yet, neither one has won a championship. Mitchell has never even made a conference finals. It is this shared void that the Cavs hope fuels their team toward a deep playoff run.

From their first game together after the trade in February, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson says he has seen a natural chemistry between the two, one that clicked instantly.

«This league is a lot about when you get a player in their career,» Atkinson said last week. «I think we got James at the right time.»

The finale of Harden's evolution, from young bench scorer with the Thunder, to the volume scorer and