Donovan Mitchell Addresses Not Being An All-Star Starter In 2026

On Monday, the NBA officially announced the starters for the 2026 All-Star Game, and to no one's surprise, the lineups were full of the biggest stars that the league has to offer. In contrast to recent years, there has been very little debate over snubs for the starting lineups, with many believing that the 10 players that were picked were all thoroughly deserving.

That doesn't mean that others weren't, however, with some speculating that Donovan Mitchell may have the best case of anyone not picked as a starter to be in that role. On Tuesday, the Cavaliers star was asked about the perceived snub, but instead of being angry or frustrated, he revealed that he wasn't too shocked by it.

"Not gonna lie, I kinda expected that. The guys that were named [Cade, Maxey, Brunson], their records are better than ours. I wanted to be a starter for sure. At the end of the day, we win games, and everyone gets rewarded. Winning comes first."

On paper, Mitchell has been just as good as Cade Cunningham and Jalen Brunson, but with those two being ahead of Cleveland in the standings, there's been very little backlash for Mitchell missing out on an All-Star starter's role.

Ultimately, this is still one of the best scorers and players in the entire league, and Mitchell will be an All-Star off the bench this season, but given the level of everyone named in the starting lineup, it's hard to fault these starting lineups.