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NBA Awards Race: Will Cavaliers land Donovan Mitchell on All-NBA Team?

By Josh Cornelissen

Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers and Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers and Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings and Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies. Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images /

The competition for Mitchell to make All-NBA

Only six guards will make an All-NBA team this season. That may seem both basic and obvious, but it doesn’t matter if Donovan Mitchell or any other guard is playing at an “All-NBA” level; it matters who the top six such players are. This season, the competition is fierce.

There are a few locks out there. Luka Doncic looks like a lock to make First-Team All-NBA. He is second in the league in scoring at 33 points per game, with 8.6 rebounds and 8.0 assists to go with it. His prolific offensive portfolio makes him a lock.

The same goes for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who is averaging 31.4 points per game (4th in the NBA) for a team on the cusp of making the Play-In Tournament and competing for a playoff berth. Finally, Stephen Curry looks like a lock despite missing time; his shooting and scoring numbers are incendiary, he’s averaging 6.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists, and his leads the league in 3-pointers per game on a crazy 43.3 percent from deep.

That leaves just three spots for everyone else. Damian Lillard seems like a lock, averaging 32.2 points per game and 7.2 assists, but the Portland Trail Blazers are tumbling into the lottery and he could get shut down for the rest of the year. A similar fate could befall Tyrese Haliburton, who is averaging 20.8 points and 10.4 assists (2nd in the league) but is on an Indiana Pacers team dropping out of the Play-In race.

Then we come to De’Aaron Fox, who is the best player on the league’s best offense, doesn’t seem to miss in crunch time and has all of the momentum heading to the finish line. Ja Morant has put up solid numbers for the West’s second-best team but recent character issues have dinged his resume. Trae Young is having a down year, Devin Booker missed a lot of time, James Harden seems to have been forgotten by the league (he didn’t even make the All-Star Team this season).

That’s a lot of names for just six spots, and we didn’t even mention Anthony Edwards, a rising star who made his first All-Star game this season, or Darius Garland, an advanced stats darling, or Jalen Brunson, who has breathed life into a marquee franchise. Jaylen Brown and Paul George are playing at an All-NBA level and could receive votes at two positions. Jrue Holiday is the best defender out of all of these players and is having a career year offensively for the league’s best team.

That’s an awful lot of competition.