After losing Gordon Hayward in free agency and Rudy Gobert to a knee injury, it has not been an easy start to the 2017-18 NBA season for the Utah Jazz. However, after losing four out of their first six games without Gobert, Utah has won five consecutive games since.

As different players have stepped up in Gobert's absence, all the attention was on Donovan Mitchell's 41-point performance in the 114-108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Following the game, DeMarcus Cousins made a strong statement about Utah's rookie according to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders:

“Utah got a star, man, for real,” All-Star opponent DeMarcus Cousins told reporters after witnessing Mitchell’s 41 points first hand.

After Mitchell's performance, he set a franchise record for a rookie and became the first to score more than 40 points since Blake Griffin during the 2010-11 season.

Originally the 13th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets, the Jazz acquired him for the 24th overall pick (Tyler Lydon) and Trey Lyles. While all the talk has been on Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball, basketball fans are quickly learning about Mitchell following his 41-point performance.

With the Jazz preparing for the Washington Wizards on Dec. 4, it will be interesting to see what Mitchell does next.