CLEVELAND, Ohio — Less than a week after Luka Doncic’s historic 60-21-10 tour, former Louisville men’s basketball standout and current NBA superstar Donovan Mitchell is on the cusp of winning the 2022 -23 He put in a performance that rivaled Doncic in the best of the NBA season.
In Monday night’s game against the Bulls, the Cavaliers’ shooting guard had 71 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to lead Cleveland to a 145-134 overtime victory over Chicago. He shot 22-of-34 from the field and 7-of-15 on 3-point attempts.
Not only was Mitchell’s career-best points scored, he was also the most points scored by an NBA player since Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game against the Raptors on January 22, 2006. He had the eighth most points in a single game, breaking Cleveland’s franchise record of 57 points previously held by LeBron James.
Acquired from the Utah Jazz in a blockbuster offseason trade, the 6-foot-1-inch, 215-pound shooting guard is on track to earn yet another NBA All-Star nod. By then, Mitchell was already averaging 28.0 points per game, and his 48.4 field goal percentage and 41.1 3-point percentage were also the best of his six-year career. He is also averaging 4.6 assists per game and his 3.8.
The Greenwich, Connecticut native spent the first five years of his NBA career in Salt Lake City, experiencing only personal success from day one. In his 345 career games with the Jazz, Mitchell averaged 23.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, and he was named an NBA All-Star in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Rookie Max extension signed after the 2020 NBA playoffs.
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Mitchell was drafted 13th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft by the Nuggets, but was traded to the Jazz on draft night. As his sophomore at the University of Louisville, Mitchell averaged 15.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists and was named to his team’s All-Time ACC First for the 2016-17 season.
(Donovan Mitchell Photo: Ken Blaise – USA TODAY Sports)
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