Will this be the year that Donovan Mitchell makes it past the second round of the playoffs?

This year, Donovan Mitchell will make his 9th playoff appearance. Despite having been to the playoffs nine times, he’s yet to make it past the second round. He’s never played in a conference finals — Western or Eastern.

So, the big questions are, is this the year he makes it out? Was the Cleveland Cavaliers’ trade deadline acquisition of James Harden the missing piece? And, does it weigh on Mitchell that he hasn’t reached a conference final?

You’ve probably heard every coach say something to the effect of, “we want to be playing our best basketball heading into the playoffs.” They all say it, because that’s the ideal way to enter the postseason. But that classic saying isn’t just about a team playing efficiently. It’s about being healthy, about a collective confidence and belief, about all of the intangibles that take a team from good, to great.

I wondered if Mitchell had ever walked into the playoffs, feeling like he and his team were ready in the fullest sense — with the Utah Jazz or the Cavs.

“I mean, obviously the ’21 year here, I was hurt,” Mitchell started, recalling all of his playoff runs. “The years we lost to (Harden) over there, we were healthy. Dallas, we were healthy, but we weren’t together. So I can’t really ... but we were a 55-win team. My first year here, we were just young, we didn’t rise to the occasion, myself included. Next year was our test, and then we got hurt again. So I mean, yeah, it’s tough.”

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He wants to say that there have been times that he felt like everything was perfectly aligned — health, belief, on-court product. Even if he believes that the Rudy Gobert-Mitchell pairing with Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdonovic flanking the duo were the right combo, they still weren’t able to stay healthy or maintain the perfect level of togetherness to start the playoffs on the right note.

But because it takes so much to be great in the playoffs, because it’s such a monumental mountain to climb, Mitchell isn’t deterred.

“I don’t want that (health and confidence) to be an excuse, but there’s definitely a lot that goes into it,” Mitchell said. “Which is why I don’t dwell on the fact that I haven’t made it out the second round. I’m not taking the onus off myself, I’m always going to put that pressure on me. But there is so much that goes into that."

The difference this year, of course, is that the pressure isn’t all on Mitchell, because Harden is right there with him.

Harden believes deeply in health being the most important part of heading into the playoffs. Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson believes that with some tweaking on the defensive end and some more effort on that side of the ball, that the Cavaliers are deep enough and confident enough to make a special run. Mitchell believes that his best is in front of him.

“You have to have some good fortune as it relates to health,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said of what it takes for a good team to break through to greatness in the postseason. “Sometimes you don’t need to add to the group. Sometimes the group has to go through hard moments together.

“I think right now, we have a pretty high emotional reaction to everything that happens in our league. You beat a really good team, and people start asking like, ‘Wow, does this mean they turned the corner?’ Or, you lose a game in a weird way, and people start going, ‘oh, they don’t have it, and they don’t know how to close.’ And neither are really true. But, I think a group of people that go through hard things together, you do have the ability to maybe navigate it better the next time, because the consistency is ultimately what gives you the best chance.”

That line of thinking would make you wonder, have Harden and Mitchell been together long enough for this all to work with the Cavaliers? Did the Cavaliers really need to add someone like Harden for them to have the best chance? Did they break some of their consistency at the wrong time?

But in the next breath, when asked about the pairing of Mitchell and Harden, you can tell that Hardy is as much a believer in Cleveland’s chances as anyone. Because the simple truth is that when you add someone like Harden to a roster, it’s not just adding a little bit more talent.

Instead, the addition of Harden, especially alongside someone like Mitchell, completely ramps up what that team is capable of, and both of them know exactly what it’s like to get bounced from the playoffs early, they know what it is going to take to make it over that hill.

“Nightmare fuel,” Hardy said, describing the addition of Harden next to Mitchell. “He’s one of the best isolation players we’ve ever seen. He’s an elite pick and roll player. Offensively, the combination of he and Donovan creates a lot of situations where you don’t have good choices.”

Maybe more importantly, as Mitchell prepares for his ninth postseason, is that Harden provides some relief. Harden has so often in his career been the player that has taken on the lion’s share of the offensive responsibility in a game and he’s completely capable of doing so. Mitchell is the same.

But with Mitchell and Harden together, they provide relief and the ability to share the load, which, in turn, provides relief to the rest of the roster.

“It’s very — calming,” Mitchell said, pausing to find the right word to describe what it’s like sharing the court with Harden. “It allows me to defer...allows me to be my natural self while also still being the playmaker...and for me to have a guy like that, just to be able to steady the ship as well, I think is huge.”

It’s possible that the steadying, calming presence that Harden provides will be exactly the thing that Cleveland and Mitchell need. It’s possible that the Cavaliers will head into the postseason ready to play their best basketball, believing that this group can get it done.

But, it’s also possible that it’s still not meant to be, that Mitchell will still fall short, again, of making it past the second round. It’s hard to predict and these things are always clearer with hindsight.

Back in 2021, Mitchell truly believed the Jazz were ready. Looking back now, like he said, it’s tough. But he’s not dwelling on it.