Donovan Mitchell has a calf strain? What all these Cavalier injuries mean for Game 3

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CLEVELAND — As if things couldn’t get worse for the Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell is playing through a calf strain.

Mitchell was nowhere to be found on Cleveland’s crowded, star-studded injury report for Game 2, but the TNT broadcast reported he was playing hurt, and Mitchell confirmed as much after the Cavs’ gutting 120-119 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

“I’m banged up, but we all are,” Mitchell said.

The Cavs are banged up, starting with their record in these Eastern Conference semifinals: 0-2. Darius Garland has been out for two weeks (four playoff games) with a left big toe sprain; Evan Mobley and De’Andre Hunter suffered injuries in the fourth quarter of Game 1 and returned to action, but neither played Tuesday. There is no telling whether any of them will be available for Game 3 on Friday; all three were listed as “questionable,” but none participated in shootaround, nor did any pregame work on the court to test their injuries.

A source close to one of the players described the absence as a “pain tolerance” issue, which is the case for all of them — if they could further injure themselves, they would, we presume, be ruled “out” instead of “questionable.”

Two league sources with direct knowledge of the Cavs’ inner workings describe the franchise as among the most conservative teams in the league for injury management, an attractive quality for the franchise as far as players are concerned. They feel empowered and protected when they are uncomfortable, those sources said. But injury management does not typically come into play as much during the playoffs, where seasons grow short quickly and players fighting for championships push through injuries that are, well, push-through-able.

“You’d have to chain me to the bench to keep me from playing a playoff game,” an NBA assistant coach said.

Donovan Mitchell was INCREDIBLE in Game 2 👏

🕷️ 48 points
🕷️ 9 assists
🕷️ 4 steals

Left it all on the floor. pic.twitter.com/gehZOBfKpP

— NBA (@NBA) May 7, 2025

Right. This isn’t to suggest any of the injured Cavs aren’t hurting or that they have a different sentiment than the anonymous coach quoted above. Hunter’s dislocated thumb is on his shooting hand — can he shoot with a busted thumb? The Pacers are among the fastest teams in the league; if Garland and Mobley are hobbled with ankle/foot injuries, could they keep pace?

If you remember, Jarrett Allen missed the final eight games of last season’s playoff run with a rib injury. The injury itself was extremely painful and potentially dangerous, team sources said, describing it as a “pierced rib.” The team’s official stance was that Allen was “questionable” to play for all eight games, which led coaches and teammates, fairly or unfairly, to question why Allen wasn’t doing more to play. Garland has been “questionable” for four games.

“Everybody can say yeah, we had DG, Dre, and Evan out — I’m not going to go there,” Mitchell said. “For us, if they play Friday, great. We definitely need them. But if they don’t, we gotta be ready, understand that we’ve shown we can do this.”

Mitchell has been limping at the end of both games against the Pacers. He didn’t want to confirm (or deny) he needed an IV, but it looked like he was cramping toward the end of Game 2, though the stretching he was doing could easily have been for his calf strain.

Mitchell played through his injury to score 48 points. He seemed to carry the team for large stretches, though he and everybody else made huge mistakes down the stretch that cost the Cavs dearly. Mitchell missed a box out and got dunked on. He committed a charging foul. Max Strus, after scoring a playoff career-high 23 points, threw a terrible inbounds pass that was stolen with the Cavs up by three and about 25 seconds left.

All of this happened in the final minute, with the Cavs up seven, after Cleveland led comfortably for most of the game — by 20 on two different occasions — and led to Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winning 3 with about a second to go.

TYRESE HALIBURTON WINS GAME 2 FOR THE PACERS 😱🤯

WHAT. A. WILD. PLAY. pic.twitter.com/rFsjZmtrBz

— NBA (@NBA) May 7, 2025

Mitchell’s calf strain is mild enough not to be listed on Cleveland’s injury report, but it’s concerning. If you recall, he missed the final two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals last year against the Boston Celtics with… a calf strain. Those injuries, while mild on the surface, are incredibly dangerous because they can lead to Achilles tears.

As we wait to see if any, all or none of the injured Cavs return in this series, keep an eye on Mitchell’s health.

“Proud of every individual that put up a fight tonight,” Mitchell said. “We’ve shown how deep we are as a team, how great we are as a unit. But yeah, it’s tough losing like that. We got to find a way to get two (wins) in Indy.”

Mitchell figures to be on the floor for Game 3, but the way this series is going, it’s a development to monitor.

(Photo: David Richard / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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