Donovan Mitchell to the Cavs was an 18-month process — with a catalyst from the Knicks

• ESPN.com NBA writer since 2010
• Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years
• Author of two books

Cleveland Cavaliers president Koby Altman was in fifth grade the last time the team won a playoff series without LeBron James on its roster. Altman will turn 40 on Sept 16.

Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff had just completed his sophomore season at Oregon State the last time the team made the playoffs without No. 23. He turned 43 this year.

This helps explain why the Cavs aggressively pursued and executed a trade for guard Donovan Mitchell on Thursday, giving a half-decade of draft control to the Utah Jazz with three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps to make it happen. Building a winner in Cleveland is hard, and sometimes sticking to a long-range process, even if soundly designed, doesn’t work.

What started as a deliberate rebuild in 2018 when James left for the Los Angeles Lakers — the team was 99 games under .500 for the first three seasons afterward — has been supercharged in a way even Cleveland couldn’t have predicted.

How did the Cavaliers find themselves in position to pull off one of the blockbusters of the offseason? This rising Eastern Conference contender has actually been drafting and dealing its way to this moment for 18 months.

Jan. 13, 2021: A case could be made this was the day the course of the franchise changed.

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