CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cavaliers shook the NBA world over the summer when they landed perennial All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell in a blockbuster trade with the Utah Jazz.
This weekend, Mitchell returns to Salt Lake City where he spent the first five years of his career representing the Cavs at the NBA’s midseason showcase event.
“You learn to appreciate those things because they saw me grow up,” Mitchell said. “I was a young kid, just happy to be drafted and then given a role to be one of the leaders on the team early, making the playoffs, having big moments, having struggles, ups and downs, and to grow into who I am today.
“I'm forever grateful, forever thankful.”
Mitchell makes his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance, but this is the first time will appear as a starter.
“To be there my first time as a starter back on the team that I was a fan of as a kid, there's just so many different things you can point to,” Mitchell said. “At some point in time, I’ll probably sit there and kind of decompress and just appreciate the moment because at the end of the day, you have to appreciate the little things because that's something that I've really been big on this year is appreciating the little things. I'm forever grateful and it'll be fun.”
Last year Mitchell was sick and unable to participate in Cleveland, which he explained was extremely disappointing to him because he had big plans for Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
“I told everybody that I was going to go for 50, but Steph ended up doing that,” Mitchell said. “But just being able to be in that space, in that locker room to witness Stephan Curry have the night that he had and LeBron coming back to his hometown [was special].”
In storybook fashion, James beat the final buzzer with a turnaround jumper near the elbow to win it for the Western Conference.
As for Mitchell, he has been sensational for the Cavs this season and is their undisputed MVP, guiding the team to a 38-23 record at the break – fourth-best in the East and the fifth-best record in the NBA.
His 71-point performance in an overtime win over Chicago earlier this year will forever go down as the greatest performance in franchise history.
Mitchell, who has scored at least 40 six times, is averaging a career-high 27.3 points per game to go with 4.9 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 35.5 minutes per game in his first season with Cleveland.
“I consider myself one of the best guys to play this game, but I'm a fan. I grew up a fan and at the end of the day, this is something I've dreamed of as a kid,” Mitchell said. “I'm never too big for that. So being able to be amongst stars who I can call my peers, I think is always pretty special, and that's what All-Star Weekend is for me.
“Ever since I've gone the first year when I won the Slam dunk contest and now here as an All-Star starter and hopefully I’ll continue going.”
As a basketball fan, Mitchel has been a regular at local high school games. It’s something he did in Utah and wanted to continue doing in Cleveland.
“I think that's the biggest thing, being able to be seen,” Mitchell said. “Because it's one thing to see us on TV and it's like I tell people, you can give back, you can give monetary donations, you can do all that, but the biggest thing you can give someone is your time. And I think that's something that really stands out and honestly as a motivator for not just the kids, but just seeing us understand that we're real people too. We're here, we're watching, we're just showing our support.”
Aside from the need for a shot clock in Ohio, Mitchell offered some advice to the young players that aspire to be where he is one day.
“It's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows,” Mitchel said. “Understand that it's a process. Things are going to go well. There are going to be bumps in the road, but continue to stay with it. My biggest thing is having determination over negativity. There's going to be something in your way, whether it's on the basketball court, academically, life, but continue to push through and continue to work hard because that's ultimately what's going to get you to where you want to go.”
