The Cavaliers are looking at a chaotic offseason after their sudden move. The firing of head coach JB Bickerstaff was shocking to most of the NBA community. It looked like he was starting to bring improvements to the team before he got fired. Paul Pierce broke down the root of the problem on Undisputed immediately. The NBA pro turned analyst can explain the sudden axe of a coach only on a disgruntled player. In this case, it is Donovan Mitchell.

Pierce was undoubtedly blindsided by the news as he thought Bickerstaff was on a positive run with Cleveland. “I thought he really exceeded expectations being that they were hurt a lot of times during the year.” He led the Cavs to back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in about five seasons. The Cavs were also in the play-in tournament this season and won the series against the Orlando Magic. During the regular season, Bickerstaff went 170-159 and was 6-11 in the postseason. Under his lead, the team went the farthest it has ever gone in its LeBron-less era.

The hurt Pierce refers to were moments Donovan Mitchell and other players couldn’t play due to injuries which saw them falling to the Celtics in the first round. Fans, former NBA players, and the guys at Undisputed see this as the team making a scapegoat out of Bickerstaff so Mitchell would sign an extended contract. “Maybe this has something to do with Donovan Mitchell re-signing a long-term deal and we all know that when the star franchise player is unhappy the coach is first to go.”

Can’t expect anything but the truth from The Truth. He proceeded to say that the team has taken a huge gamble on Mitchell by firing a promising coach.

Paul Pierce is concerned about Cleveland’s future

Donovan Mitchell is yet to sign a longterm contract with the Cavs though all rumors point towards it. But Pierce couldn’t hold his exasperation back at the decisionmakers that be at Cleveland. The team is back to the drawing board, hunting for a new coach who will implement a new system. Even if Mitchell extends his tenure in Cleveland, Pierce is afraid that he and Darius Garland could still decide to leave the Cavaliers next year. And undoing Bickerstaff’s work would be all for nothing.

Pierce has been rather mindful about Cleveland’s situation lately. He even implied that the team would be better off signing Bronny James to lure LeBron James back to Cleveland so he could finish his career where he started.

There are unconfirmed but rampant rumors that Mitchell was not fond of Bickerstaff. It’s also not confirmed if he really did play a part in the head coach’s release. However, Pierce is not the only one saying that Mitchell should’ve not been a factor in Bickerstaff’s release. Chandler Parsons was utterly disappointed in the decision too as well as the NBA community on social media. Is Pierce right that the team took a big gamble firing Bickerstaff?