Donovan Mitchell had a great start to his playoff career Cleveland as he led all scorers in game one of the Cavs’ first-round series new York Knicks, falling 38 points, albeit in a losing effort. Despite falling to an 0-1 hole and losing home court advantage, Mitchell still managed to join an elite group of greats with his performance. Only six players have scored more than Mitchell’s 1,143 runs in their first 40 career post-season games.
The company “spidamitchell” is keeping the legendary status these days. Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Allen Iverson, Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the only players to score more points than Mitchell in their first 40 NBA playoff games. That’s one hell of an accomplishment for a player that no one expected coming out of Louisville.
Mitchell has been in the postseason every year of his career so far. In his six appearances, he never averaged less than 21 points per game. During the Orlando bubble, Mitchell actually broke through, averaging 36.3ppg in one series. Utah participated during the 2020 playoffs. lost to jazz denver nuggets in seven games, but Mitchell played his part.
Eventually, Mitchell would need to have a long postseason run with similar numbers. But for a guy in his sixth year to be on a list like this with those great names is quite an achievement.