Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell revealed his thoughts on not making the All-NBA First Team when he appeared on the “Sideline Stroll with Ros” podcast on Wednesday.
“I just felt I should have been first team,” Donovan Mitchell said, via Bleacher Report Breaking News Team Writer Erin Walsh. “That’s one of my goals for next year is to be first team, and I felt like I was good enough, but obviously the media members did not, so.”
The league revealed its All-NBA teams in May. Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum made the cut for the First Team. Embiid would go on to win the league’s MVP award.
Donovan Mitchell took a spot on the All-NBA Second Team alongside Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić. It would be the first time he made an All-NBA team in his young career. Mitchell gained 45 first-team votes, 36 second-team votes and 16 third-team votes, good enough for 349 total points in the award voting. Gilgeous-Alexander earned 407 total points and 63 first-team votes, while Dončić received 403 points and 60 first-team votes.
The four-time All-Star tweeted “FOH lol” on the same day.
Donovan Mitchell ended the 2022-23 season with averages of 28.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game in 68 games played and started. He became an All-Star starter for the first time in his career in January and the first Cavalier to take a starting spot on the All-Star team since forward LeBron James in 2018.
“I appreciate it,” Donovan Mitchell said on NBA on TNT in January. “I’m definitely blessed and humbled to be a part of this. To be a part of my fourth All-Star, and now to be a starter, man, I couldn’t be happier.”