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Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert hope to be named NBA All-Stars, but say 'we have bigger things to focus on'

Rudy Gobert adds something to his game each season. Just ask the guards who have tried to test the 7-footer out on the perimeter or the defenders who have run into his screens or tried to slow down the big man on a roll to the rim.

And after last year’s All-Star snub, a slight that brought Gobert to tears, the Utah Jazz center gained something else: perspective.

So on the eve of this year’s All-Star reserves announcement, Gobert isn’t worried about whether his name will be called.

“I’m not really nervous,” he said Wednesday in San Antonio. “I feel like it’s all about controlling what you can control. I’m not the one voting. So it’s all about trying to get a win tonight, trying to get a win tomorrow. Just keep winning. Keep doing what we do. That’s the most important thing.”

Gobert believes he should be headed to Chicago next month with the rest of the league’s top players. He thinks his teammate, guard Donovan Mitchell, should be going with him.

“I think we deserve it,” Gobert said.

The Jazz (32-14) sit in third place in the Western Conference, thanks in no small part to the play of Gobert and Mitchell. Gobert (15.7 points, 14.5 rebounds, 2 blocks) leads the league in field goal percentage, is second in rebounds per game and fourth in blocks per game while anchoring the NBA’s seventh-ranked defense.

“I think it would be rewarding for the work we’re doing as a team more than anything,” Gobert said of a possible All-Star selection. “I think we’ve been one of the best in the league this year. It would be great to be able to represent the team.”

Mitchell, meanwhile, is putting up 24.9 points per game for a Jazz team that has been the league’s top offense since Christmas. He has been to All-Star Weekend twice. The guard has been invited to the showcase’s Friday night rookie-sophomore game. He’s won the Slam Dunk Contest on All-Star Saturday night. Now, he’d like to make plans for Sunday’s main event.

“It would be an incredible honor,” Mitchell said. “Hopefully I’ll get the call.”

But both Gobert and Mitchell are focused on other goals.

“I would love to make it,” Mitchell said. “But we have bigger things to focus on.”

Gobert couldn’t agree more.

“All-Star or not, the goal is to win something bigger at the end of the year,” he said. “It can be a distraction if you see it the wrong way. It would be great to make it. It’s something I was dreaming about as a kid. When I got to the league, it was one of my goals. But it’s all about getting better and winning as a team.”