Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell remains second in voting among Eastern Conference guards

Based on the final return on fan voting for the 2023 NBA All-Star game, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell appears on track to start in Utah.

Mitchell, per the results, is second behind Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving among Eastern Conference guards with 3,851,233 votes to Irving’s 3,968,041. Mitchell is also sizably ahead of the likes of Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden, Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young and Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown.

Fan votes account for 50% voting to pick All-Star starters with NBA players and a media panel account for 25% respectively. Starters will be announced next Thursday, Jan. 26 on TNT before that night’s slate of games.

Based on these returns, it also is highly likely that Mitchell is the only Cavalier to be an All-Star starter. Mitchell does deserve that honor — he’s playing arguably the best two-way basketball of his career with averages on 28.4 points and 4.8 assists while shooting 48.4% from the field and 39.5% from three. And, of course, he dropped 71 points in a game this year in one of the defining performances of the 2022-23 season.

So, if other Cavs are going to make it to Utah— namely Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — they’ll need to be named as reserves. For what it’s worth, Garland is tenth among All-Star guards in fan voting, while neither Mobley or Allen are in the top-10 of fan voting. For what it’s worth: That is is how Garland and Mobley made the team last year.

The 2023 All-Star game is scheduled Sunday, Feb. 19 in Salt Lake City.