Donovan Mitchell Wins Breakthrough Athlete Of The Year Award

NBA

Donovan Mitchell Wins Breakthrough Athlete Of The Year Award

Donovan Mitchell won the ESPY for Breakthrough Athlete of the Year. The other candidates were well deserving, but Mitchell had an amazing season and wasn’t expected to be this good right away.

The other candidates all had great seasons as well. Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Alvin Kamara was the Offensive Rookie of the year while also being named to the Pro Bowl. Sloane Stephens had a phenomenal year in Tennis as she was ranked as high as #3 in the world.

Why Mitchell Won

Mitchell was drafted 13th overall by the Utah Jazz in the 2017 NBA Draft. He averaged 20.5 points, 3.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game. The regular season numbers aren’t why he won this award though.

He led the Jazz to a series win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. He brought his scoring average up to 24.4 points per game during the playoffs.

The way he led the Jazz to a six game series victory over the Thunder was spectacular. He took over at the end of games. The Thunder just didn’t have an answer for him defensively, as he took over and put the team on his back.

Mitchell getting this award over Ben Simmons and Alvin Kamara might surprise some people. Simmons was already thought of as a top young player which is why he didn’t win this award. Alvin Kamara, despite being a third-round pick, is still a young star in the making.

He is very deserving of this award and it’s going to be very exciting to see how he performs going forward. The west is stacked so he has to keep working hard and getting better if they want to compete out west. Mitchell is a bright young star in the game, but he needs to keep his focus on the court. If he does that, he’ll be just fine. 

 

Credit: Chris Kern