It’s still very much small sample size season in the NBA, as player and team stats are inflated because not very many games have been played.
That said, former Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell is off to an incredible start after being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers over the summer, historic even.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Mitchell’s 32.2 points per game average through his first six games before Wednesday night is the second-highest in NBA history through a player’s first six games with a team.
The only other player in league history who averaged more through his first six contests with a new squad? Wilt Chamberlain, who averaged 36.8 points per game in his first six games as a rookie in 1959.
On Wednesday night, Mitchell scored “just” 25 points against the Boston Celtics, but the manner in which he stepped up at a crucial time was clutch.
The Cavaliers trailed by a point with 2:35 to play when Mitchell scored nine straight points for his team, and the game went into overtime.
In the extra session, Mitchell scored a bucket with a blocked shot and a rebound as the Cavaliers won 114-113 to tally their sixth straight win and move to 6-1 on the season.
In total on the season, Mitchell is now averaging 31.1 points, 7.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game.
On Sunday after Mitchell scored 38 points and dished a career high 12 assists in a much-anticipated game against the New York Knicks, the hometown team Mitchell was expected to be traded to over the summer, The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd quoted Mitchell as saying, “I think this has been my best stretch in my career.”
Then on Wednesday, which marked the return of Mitchell’s backcourt mate Darius Garland after he was injured early in the season opener, Lloyd wrote of the Cavaliers, “One of the pieces they were missing last season was a closer, someone they could anoint to finish games with big shots late.
“Garland is certainly capable and some nights will have the ball in his hands for the last shot. On Wednesday, just like in so many games when Garland was absent, it was Mitchell. It will likely be Mitchell most nights all season.”