Donovan Mitchell reacted to being snubbed as an NBA All-Star game starter, amidst the Cleveland Cavaliers regular season sruggles
In his ninth NBA season, Donovan Mitchell is currently putting up career numbers and is considered by some to be an MVP candidate.
Apparently, not everyone received that memo, though.
The NBA unveiled the All-Star game starting lineups for each conference on Monday, prior to the Cleveland Cavaliers tipping off a home contest with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Noticeably absent from the East's starting five was Mitchell.
Getting the nod over Cleveland's star were New York Knicks guard, Jalen Brunson, sharpshooting point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers Tyrese Maxey and Detroit Pistons' phenom Cade Cunningham. That trio took up the three guard spots in the starting lineup, with Boston Celtics two-way wing Jaylen Brown and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks rounding it out.
There's an argument to be made that Mitchell was snubbed. But the six-time All-Star even understood why he was left out.
"To be honest, I kind of expected that," Mitchell admitted after his team's 136-104 loss to OKC. "I mean the guys that were named, their record is better than ours. So naturally, you reward that."
Cleveland is a disappointing 24-20 at this point of the season, after opening the 2025-26 campaign as the betting favorites to win the East, Mitchell and company now find themselves as the No. 7 seed in the conference.
"Obviously yeah, I wanna be a starter for sure," Mitchell admitted. "But I understand that at the end of the day, we win games everyone gets rewarded. We haven't won games necessarily at the rate we would like to, and that's what comes first and everything else comes with that."
Unlike the rest of the NBA world, Mitchell didn't find out he was snubbed as part of the east's starting five until later in the game. In the past, an in-game announcement has usually served as the big reveal for Mitchell learning of his All-Star fate. When it didn't come during Monday's game, he essentially out two-and-two together.
"It is what it is," he added.
Mitchell has been an All-Star game starter twice during his time with the Cavs, and was looking to join LeBron James as the only players in franchise history to start at least three separate All-Star Games.
Per usual, the selection process weighted fan voting at 50% of the total vote, while players and a panel of select media made up 25% each. Mitchell finished sixth in each voting category
He'll hope to attend this year's even in Los Angeles as a reserve. Each conference will have seven reserves total, which are chosen by NBA coaches. Those will be announced next week.
Should Mitchell make the reserve list it would be his seventh trip an All-Star Game in his career.