Donovan Mitchell criticized himself last month when the Cavaliers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs because the All-Star guard knows he didn’t meet expectations against his hometown New York Knicks.
Mitchell said he felt like he had let his teammates down.
However, the Cavs’ 4-1 first-round series defeat didn’t erase Mitchell’s stellar 2022-23 regular season. He earned recognition for it Wednesday night when the league announced Mitchell had been voted to an All-NBA Team.
“[Mitchell] took a lot of responsibility for this first round, and I told him, ‘Stop that,’” Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman said during a season wrap-up news conference. “He’s been remarkable for us in so many different ways, and we told him how proud of him we are.”
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A September trade acquisition from the Utah Jazz, Mitchell was a second-team selection. He is the first Cavs player to earn All-NBA status since LeBron James in the 2017-18 season. By the way, James was a third-team honoree this year.
In All-NBA voting, Mitchell finished behind first-team guards Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder). Tatum received 484 points (92 first-team votes and eight second-team votes), Gilgeous-Alexander tallied 407 points (63 first-team votes, 29 second-team votes and five third-team votes) and Mitchell garnered 349 points (45 first-team votes, 36 second-team votes and 16 third-team votes).
This is the first All-NBA honor of Mitchell’s professional career, which launched after he was drafted 13th overall in 2017. It’s Tatum’s third (two first team and one third team) and Gilgeous-Alexander’s first.
Mitchell is the fifth player in Cavs history to make an All-NBA roster.
Until the addition of Mitchell to the list, the last Cavs player other than James who had earned the distinction was point guard Kyrie Irving, a third-team All-NBA pick for the 2014-15 season.
Mark Price is the last Cavs player aside from James to be named first-team All-NBA, an honor the retired point guard received for the 1992-93 season. The other player the franchise has had who accomplished the All-NBA feat is center Brad Daugherty, a third-team choice for the 1991-92 season.
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This past regular season, Mitchell averaged a career-high 28.3 points on 48.4% shooting from the field, including 38.6% on 3-pointers. He registered 4.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.43 steals in a career-high 35.8 minutes per game. He shot a career-best 86.7% from the free-throw line.
In the playoffs, Mitchell averaged 23.3 points on 43.3% shooting from the field, including 28.9% on 3-pointers, plus 7.2 assists, five rebounds and two steals.
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Altman said Mitchell is a “humble superstar” who had the best season of his career. Altman said the Cavs expected Mitchell to become first-team All-NBA, which obviously didn’t come to fruition.
“He was able to seamlessly come into the Cavs, bring his dynamic, bring his belief and really be a great mentor for [his teammates],” Altman said. “He’s living in this pain [of the playoff loss] and embracing how we can get better as a team.
“At 26 years old, he still has the best basketball ahead of him. He has big, lofty goals, and he also knows he has a group around him that supports him to get there. So we’re thrilled and actually really, really fortunate that we were able to complete that trade.”
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Here is the full list of All-NBA selections for the 2022-23 season
All-NBA First Team: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics)
All-NBA Second Team: Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics), Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers)
All-NBA Third Team: De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings), LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Julius Randle (New York Knicks), Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings)
Nate Ulrich can be reached at [email protected]. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell voted to All-NBA Second Team
