Utah Jazz rookie guard Donovan Mitchell has continued to build upon his strong rookie campaign that garnered much praise from around the league.

Following a convincing win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night, All-Star point guard Damian Lillard was the latest to speak highly of the 21-year-old stating that he believes Mitchell should win the Rookie of the Year award.

For much of the season, Philadelphia 76ers rookie point guard Ben Simmon has been viewed as the frontrunner for the award, but Mitchell has been making an impressive push over the last couple of months earning the Western Conference Rookie of the Month honor for both December and January. In fact, this made him the first Jazz rookie since Trey Burke back in the 2013-14 campaign to earn that accolade multiple times in a season.

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Mitchell proved to an offensive spark plug for the Jazz in the month of January averaging 22.2 points per game while tallying eight games with 20-or-more points and two contests with at least 30 points. He also became the first rookie since Andrew Wiggins to register at least 280 points, 40 rebounds, and 40 assists in the month of January.

Mitchell was just as impactful in the month prior posting a career-high 41 points against the New Orleans Pelicans on Dec. 1, which set the Jazz rookie record while making him the first in the NBA to post that performance since Blake Grifin in 2011. On top of that, both are the only active players to record multiple 40-point outings in their rookie campaigns.

The former Louisville product put that on display against the Trail Blazers on Sunday night scoring a team-high 27 points in the win, which pushed his league-best rookie marks to 26 games with 20-or-more points and 121 made 3-pointers this season.

He has certainly been one of the NBA's biggest surprises that have earned the praise of many of the league's best players in LeBron James, Chris Paul, Paul George, Stephen Curry, James Harden, and DeMarcus Cousins. If Mitchell can continue on this offensive pace in the second half of the season, there is no reason to believe he can't seriously challenge for the Rookie of the Year plum.