Fresh off a 45-point performance in which he willed the Cavaliers to a win over Detroit, Donovan Mitchell received some well-earned accolades.

Prior to tipoff against Memphis on Feb. 1, the NBA announced that Donovan Mitchell will be an Eastern Conference reserve for the 2024 All-Star game. He joins Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey and four others as reserves. (Frankly, Mitchell should be a starter, but we’ll leave that for another post.)

Earlier in the day, the NBA announced that Mitchell had been named the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for January.

Mitchell averaged 28.6 points, 7.6 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game in January, leading the Cavaliers to an 11-2 record. He also posted three double-doubles, his most in a single month of his NBA career.

Giving Mitchell the nod was a no-brainer.

No other player in the league finished the month of January with averages of at least 25 points, five rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Speaking of steals – an underrated part of his game – Mitchell is second in the NBA with just under two steals per game, behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Amazingly, this is only the second time that Mitchell has won the monthly honor, and his first time as a Cavalier.

Mitchell closed out the month with 45 points, six rebounds, eight assists and two steals against a Pistons squad that’s been playing better in recent weeks.

“You’ve got a guy who’s a closer,” J.B. Bickerstaff said of Mitchell after the Pistons game. “You’ve got a guy who you feel like when the game is on the line, you have him and they don’t – and that’s going to give you an opportunity to win.

“And we’ve seen it before, but every time you watch it, you marvel at it because of his ability to do it in the big moments, and when it was needed.”

January Highlights

Where to begin?

Among Eastern Conference leaders, Mitchell ranked second in steals per game, third in plus/minus (+195), fourth in points per game and sixth in assists per game.

Mitchell had at least one steal in 12 of Cleveland’s 13 outings, including eight multi-steal games in January (tied for second-most in the East).

He scored 20 points or more 11 times, including five games of at least 30 points and two 40-point performances. Mitchell and Joel Embiid were the only two players in the East to have multiple games scoring more than 40 points.

Mitchell’s eight games with at least four triples were tied for the second-most in the NBA.

In the Cavaliers’ Jan. 11 win over Brooklyn in Paris, Mitchell exploded for 45 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four steals, becoming the fifth player in NBA history to reach those totals in a single game and first NBA player to do so since 1994.

In Cleveland’s 40-point win over Milwaukee on Jan. 17, Mitchell tallied his 11,000th career point and became the fastest player in league history to accumulate 11,000 points and 1,200 three-pointers made (443 games), as well as just the fourth NBA player since 1973-1974 to finish with at least 30 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals in 26 minutes or less.

Bickerstaff said Mitchell stepped up in a big way as Darius Garland and Evan Mobley recovered from their respective injuries.

“The Player of the Month I think was a need thing. He knew that he needed to do just a little bit more because of the bodies that were down,” Bickerstaff said. “He took on the role of the lead ball handler, the lead creator, and he was doing the job to help everybody tick up where we needed them to tick up, and on both ends of the floor, he was contributing. But I think the most impressive thing is in the moment when you needed him most, he found a way to dig down and go out and get it done, and it was infectious throughout the team, and that’s leadership for us.”

A Perennial All-Star

 The 73rd NBA All-Star Game, scheduled for Feb. 18 in Indianapolis, will be Mitchell’s fifth All-Star appearance and his second as a Cleveland Cavalier.

For the season (as of Feb. 2), Mitchell is averaging 28.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

Mitchell’s scoring average is superior to both Eastern Conference starting guards, Tyrese Haliburton (23 points) and Damian Lillard (25.1 points). Mitchell also holds the statistical edge in rebounds and steals.

The seventh-year guard from Louisville is one of just two NBA players this season averaging at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and 1.5 steals – the other being Gilgeous-Alexander.

Mitchell told Bally Sports Ohio’s Serena Winters that he got the news from his mom during the pre-game shootaround in Memphis.

“It’s a blessing. God is good,” Mitchell told Winters. “I wouldn’t be here without my teammates – both awards – I wouldn’t be able to be in this position without the trust of my teammates, this organization, so I’m very grateful. All the hard work you put in at the end of the day comes to fruition, so God is good. I’m very thankful.”