“First of all, I think Book’s [Devin Booker] approach I think should be every hooper’s approach,” he said. “His ‘I’ll do it [tweet]’ I respect the hell out of that because that’s the same type of time I’m on. I’m not going to lie. I saw myself not in a lot of roster predictions. It’s bulls–t. But it is what it is. At the end of the day. If that’s, that’s what people feel like I just got to do more. That’s kind of been my whole mindset, but I feel like I deserve to be right in that [conversation].

“…You’re not the first person to talk to me about this, but in my first year in Cleveland, I’m an All-Star starter, All-NBA. Now granted, I put the work in, don’t get it twisted but there’s other s–t that goes with that. So I feel like that’s part of it, but obviously you got to win. Realistically, I look at myself as one of the top 10-15 players in this league, but I haven’t made it to a Conference Finals. So in order for me to make the jump, I can’t sit here and get mad… because this is an accolades-based world we live in whether it’s right, wrong, or indifferent.

“It is what it is. So until that happens, I got to continue to plug and plug. I’m not shocked when I see it, it’s more like ‘alright bet!’ and it’s more of a thank you to me, like every year I got something. There’s never complacency. And then when that day comes and I win a chip, I’m probably going to be like my man JT [Jayson Tatum] saying every [damn] meme that I’ve seen.”

The Booker post that Mitchell referred to happened in September 2023 when the Phoenix Suns guard responded to a call from Kyle Kuzma saying Team USA needed some stars to embrace more defined roles.

That is exactly what he did during the 2024 Paris Olympics and helped lead the Americans to gold. He appeared in all six games and averaged 11.7 points, 3.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds while taking a backseat at times to LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.