Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell will miss Sunday’s game against the Hornets

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be without their star guard Donovan Mitchell when they host the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night. Mitchell is listed on the injury report as out due to rest. Evan Mobley could be back with the team as he is currently listed as probable after missing Friday’s game with an illness.

Taking a rest day here makes sense. The Cavs haven’t had two consecutive days off since the season began three and a half weeks ago. Mitchell has played in each of those games and is averaging 24.6 points and 4.1 assists per game. match.

Mitchell may be in line to win Eastern Conference Player of the Week, or at least he was before he missed Sunday’s game. He has scored over 35 points in two games this week and is averaging 32 points on a .471/.452/.846 shooting split in his last three contests with 9.3 rebounds and 5 assists per game. match. Should he win, it would mark the third straight week that a Cavalier has earned that distinction, as Darius Garland is the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

Garland will have a chance to once again step up in Mitchell’s absence. He continues to play some of the best basketball of his career at the start of this season and will be able to showcase those skills again on Sunday.

The Cavaliers struggled without Mitchell last season as they walked 12-15 in games he didn’t play. This team is better set up to withstand his absence given the amount of depth they have shown to start the year.

Cleveland should be expected to continue their 14-game winning streak to start the season even with Mitchell out. The Hornets are not a good team and will play the second night of a back-to-back as they picked up a win over Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.

The extra day off should allow Mitchell to be recharged for the biggest game of the season so far on Tuesday when they take the game up. Boston Celtics away in the group stage of the NBA Cup.