Jazz's Keyonte George Weighs In on Donovan Mitchell Comparisons

The Utah Jazz might have their best guard in the building since Donovan Mitchell's tenure in their third-year breakout star, Keyonte George, who, through the first half of the NBA season, has found his way into not only becoming a key piece of the franchise's future endeavors, but also one of the league's top candidates to run away with this year's Most Improved Player Award.

In the first half of this season, George is averaging a career-best 23.8 points a night, paired with 4.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists, shooting a much-improved 46.5% from the field and 36.5% from three-point range.

Naturally, being a budding young guard in a Jazz uniform from now until the foreseeable future will draw some comparisons to their former All-Star in Mitchell––one of the team's more talented stars in recent memory that put Utah on the map for a good half-decade stretch, and was the centerpiece of some really memorable and competitive teams.

When George is asked about those comparisons to Mitchell, it does certainly offer him a bit of confidence for what his future holds, but there's still a long way to go before he's truly able to stack up with the caliber of player he is.

“When you’re compared to guys like that — I mean he’s an All-Star level player every single year — it gives me a boost of confidence," George said about comparisons to Donovan Mitchell, via an interview from Deseret News' Sarah Todd.

“It doesn’t put more pressure on me, because I know how old I am, I know how much room I got to grow, and I got an organization that I feel believes in me and is behind me. I’m grateful that I’m starting to get that kind of recognition, but Don, he’s done so many great things for this organization, and I’m not even close to that.”

Keyonte George Says He's 'Not Even Close' to Donovan Mitchell Yet

That mentality of constant improvement has clearly panned out notably well for George this season, and it now has him thinking about what he can do to keep moving the needle forward––and that hones in on competing for more wins on the board, while also finding ways to get better individually.

“I look at as trying to make a competition within myself, not looking at trying to step into Don’s shoes, because those are big shoes to fill,” George said. “They were in the playoffs, I haven’t been to the playoffs, they were over .500, there’s so many aspects of what his numbers were and all that. Looking at the bigger picture helps. I just need to go out and compete and try to get better.”

Jan 12, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) reacts after the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

For a player like Mitchell, who burst onto the scene as an immediate playoff performer and someone who's made the postseason each and every year, that's a level that George is still striving to hit, considering the Jazz's last playoff appearance came in 2022, and will likely be a streak that continues past the 2025-26 campaign.

So, while this season’s been both great and offers some nice optimism for what's to come, there's still a long way to go before George reaches the heights of NBA stardom that Mitchell was in Utah. But if he’s able to keep up the pace that he's shown through a rock-solid third season, he's got a real ceiling to soon make that All-Star-level leap.

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