Brooklyn Nets rookie guard Mikel Brown Jr. was one of the more intriguing picks in the 2026 NBA Draft given his profile and how much he improved his draft stock prior to the draft. Brooklyn went against the grain when they selected Brown, partially due to his intangibles, and Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell explained what separates Brown from other young players.
"What I love about McKell was like, there's not many high school kids that pay attention to the details. I'm having conversations with him like I'm talking to James Harden," Mitchell said during his appearance on the "Cousins with Vince Carter & Tracy McGrady" podcast. Carter and McGrady recently had Brown on the podcast to discuss various parts of his life, but they asked
Mitchell about being willing to mentor the younger generation of players.
"He's asking about the low man. He's asking about strong-side help. He's asking about gap help. He's asking about pickups," Mitchell continued. "A lot of kids in high school do it, but they don't know what they're doing, you know what I'm saying? That's one thing I really respected about him... even when he got to Louisville, he obviously got paid a lot of money and all, like the process mentally, the phone calls never changed."
Brown, 20, is coming off a freshman season at Louisville, Mitchell's alma mater, in which he averaged 18.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 41.0% from the field and 34.4% from behind the three-point line. Coming into the draft, Brown was heralded as a player that could affect the game through his scoring and passing if he proved that his back injury with the Cardinals was in the past.
During the pre-draft combine in Chicago, Brown showed through various drills and interviews that he was ready for the next level and the Nets decided that he was the guy for them. Brown should have plenty of runway to show what he can do at the next level and for those wondering about his potential, it seems that stars like Mitchell understand that Brown's intangibles give him a better chance of reaching his ceiling than most younger players.
Donovan Mitchell talks about Brooklyn Nets Mikel Brown Jr.
— NetsKingdom 👑🗽 (@NetsKingdomAJ) September 2, 2026
“What I love about Mikel is there’s not a lot of HS kids that pay attention to the details.”
🎥 @VinceAndTmac pic.twitter.com/fdirVrgEb9
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell discusses talks with Nets' Mikel Brown Jr.
