ESPN Analyst Reveals Why Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young on NBA’s Elite List
Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of back and forth about the definition of a superstar in the NBA. The topic of discussion started on Clubhouse in the Courtside With Dukes’ room. Branding and marketing expert Ivory Tabb hosted the superstar topic.
Her superstar criteria are the player needs to be in the MVP conversation, sell out arenas, big brand partnerships. Also, people must know you globally. They also discussed superstars on the rise.
The room sparked content ideas for other platforms such as ESPN, The Guardian, BallySports, Barstool Sports, and HighsNobiety.
On Friday afternoon, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins was on Instagram Live with Ryan Hollins, Bally Sports’ Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson, and Scott O’Gallagher. O’Gallagher asked are we throwing the word Superstar around too lightly? Hollins followed that question up by asking Perkins what is a superstar to him.
“This A superstar is a guy when he goes on the road and plays against another team, whether that team is sorry or not, he is selling out venues. LeBron James when he comes to town, he is selling out venues. Steph Curry when he comes to town, he is selling out venues. Kevin Durant when comes to town, he is selling out venues. Those are superstars and that is the first step, now there are a couple rising superstars that are starting to come along right now in this moment. Devin Booker, Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell those are three,” said Perkins.
“Giannis [Antetokounmpo] is a superstar because he is a two-time MVP, forget what he does in the postseason. Luka [Doncic] is a superstar, but when Giannis comes into town, Giannis is selling out arenas. People want to see Giannis play.”
NBA great Magic Johnson also thinks, Mitchell is a superstar.
“Donovan Mitchell is a bonafide superstar, scoring 45 points in Game 1 and 37 points in Game 2! We have to start mentioning his name more with [Kevin Durant], LeBron [James], Steph [Curry], etc.,” Magic Johnson tweeted last week.
Robinson also brought another great question, how do you differentiate between stats, selling out, and hardware?
Hollins definition is “can you win a championship, can you be Batman in a championship. So, my superstars are slim to known. LeBron [James], Steph [Curry], KD, Damian Lillard. It is very thin.”
Mitchell is scheduled to play later tonight as the Utah Jazz take on the Los Angeles Clippers in game three of their best of seven series. Young and the Atlanta Hawks will face the 76ers in game four on Sunday.
Before the Los Angeles Clippers took on the Utah Jazz, Jalen Rose shared why Paul George is not a superstar.
“Paul George is not a superstar, he isn’t even the best player on his team,” says Jalen Rose.
Clippers and Jazz are in the first quarter of game three in Los Angeles.
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