Utah Jazz: ‘Spida’ Mitchell is more like Captain America these days

Donovan Mitchell’s leadership role with USA Basketball’s World Cup squad feels more official after news of the Utah Jazz star’s captaincy.

After one intra-squad scrimmage and two international friendlies against some of the best national basketball programs you’ll find, there’s no denying it — Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell is a leader on the court for USA Basketball.

In the scrimmage, he scored eight points and finished with a team-high four assists for the winning side. Against Spain, he led the Americans with 13 and was efficient in doing so. Finally, when he and Team USA squared off against Jazzman Joe Ingles and the Aussie Boomers, he logged 13 points, three dimes, two steals and a block and his team was plus-24 when he was on the floor.

But it’s not just his on-court production that makes him a leader, it’s the way he’s communicated with his teammates, on and off the hardwood. It’s the effort and professionalism he brings to the table and the way he conducts himself around fans and with the media.

Given all that he does for the Americans, it should come as no surprise that Mitchell’s leadership role was legitimized this week when he joined Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart as a co-captain for Team USA’s World cup entry.

Walker himself dropped the news via the AP/ESPN ahead of the US’ first of two exhibition bouts with Australia.

Clearly, Mitchell has come a long way since he looked like a long shot to make the squad at the beginning of the process, before several high-profile players withdrew from World Cup competition.

That said, he’s absolutely earned his spot and his captaincy should come as no surprise. Team USA coach Gregg Popovich may have even tipped his hand here when he spoke about his own expectations for Mitchell at the beginning of training camp.

Said Coach Pop —

"“With him it’s just a matter of continued confidence, continued understanding of the game and how he can be a leader and affect everybody else’s game.”"

The irony with all of this is that, for a guy who is nicknamed ‘Spida,’ hangs with Spider-Man himself and has signature shoes inspired by the web-slinger and Spider villain/antihero Venom, he sure looks a lot like USA Basketball’s version of Captain America right about now.

He is literally the captain of the Americans! Never mind the fact that the national team currently has three co-captains; in the Marvel Comics, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson all had memorable turns donning the Cap’s stars, stripes and shield.

In this particular scenario, I’m going to go ahead and say that Mitchell is the Steve Rogers of Team USA’s trio of captains. In addition to his superhuman abilities, he inspires us all on the regular with acts of charity and his desire to do good.

Also — he’s a straight-laced guy in the true Rogers style. Has he ever cursed or done anything funky in an interview?

He may be the perfect guy to lead the red, white and blue into basketball battle. And I wouldn’t be surprised to find out super-solider serum was flowing through his veins.

Spida branding aside, we may just have to call Mitchell ‘Cap’ when he re-joins the Jazz after the World Cup.