Mitchell will miss game against Jazz

Mitchell will not be available to face his former team.

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell will miss Tuesday’s game vs the Utah Jazz due to injury management. It will be the 25th game Mitchell has missed this season — the most of his career.

Mitchell has been dealing with a bone bruise in his knee since February. It is a nagging injury that has visibly limited Mitchell’s ability to perform on the court since his return from a PRP injection.

“No disrespect but I’m not really blowing by people right now and that’s disappointing to me, that’s affecting me,” Mitchell said earlier in March.

Following those comments, Mitchell went back to the sideline for six games. This additional rest hasn’t seemed to help with Mitchell continuing to struggle in the paint. Mitchell has only made his way to the restricted area for 12 field goal attempts since the All-Star break.

Concerns are steadily rising. The Cavs are just 11-13 without Mitchell in the lineup this season and there isn’t much reason to believe they can turn it around in his absence.

Tonight marks the first of a back-to-back for Cleveland. Ideally, Mitchell is sitting out the first half of this stretch to prepare himself for a nationally-televised game against the Phoenix Suns. Managing Mitchell’s injury will be crucial as the Cavs embark on another postseason journey later this month.

Still, the Cavs find themselves in a tightly contested race for homecourt advantage. The New York Knicks and Orlando Magic are right on their tails. Finding a way to rest Mitchell and pick up wins along the way has been a challenge. Tonight, they face that obstacle once again.