CLEVELAND — Donovan Mitchell remembers the conversation like it happened yesterday. And he remembers how little he paid attention to it back then.

“Remember this moment,” Mike Conley Jr. once said to Mitchell when the two were teammates on the Utah Jazz. “Teams like this don’t come along often. That doesn’t usually happen in the NBA. So, appreciate it.”

Conley spoke with Mitchell in a team meeting during the 2020-21 season, when the Jazz were a legitimate title contender. This season they posted the best regular season record in the league. But as Conley’s words suggest, nothing is promised: The Jazz team would be dragged out by injuries and lose to the LA Clippers in the second round.

As he took on his former team with his current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, on Monday night, Mitchell is no longer the youngster in the locker room. And Cleveland, like the 2021 Utah team, has the best record in the NBA at 26-4. This time, Conley’s words hit the now 28-year-old even deeper.

“I learned that this isn’t forever. We are not invincible. You have to acknowledge that because something like that doesn’t happen too often,” Mitchell said The athlete on the weekend. “When Mike said that, it’s not that I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but when you’re as young as I was back then, you don’t know what you don’t know.

“I find myself telling the guys in this locker room the same thing that Mike and Joe (Ingles) and Ricky (Rubio) always told me. What do we have this season? This isn’t always the NBA. Not every locker room is like that.”

Throughout his career, Mitchell has been the cheerful rookie that everyone seems to love. He was a social justice advocate, with words that were not always well received. He was accused of shooting the ball too much and was at the center of an oft-discussed dispute with his former Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert. He has been the target of near-constant trade rumors and the centerpiece of a blockbuster trade. He won a dunk contest, made the All-Star team five times and made the All-NBA team.

With this Cavs team, however, Mitchell is finding something that had previously eluded him, what he calls “a sense of peace.”

“For years everyone has been talking about whether I like Rudy or whether I’m going to the New York Knicks or the Miami Heat,” he said. “It’s great to finally have that feeling of peace.”

He finds himself in a locker room where everyone seems to like him. He surrounded himself with friends and family. And most importantly for him and the Cavaliers, Mitchell is playing the best basketball of his career.

“If I can paint a picture, ideally I would win a championship at some point in the next five years,” he said. “It’s hard to win championships. It’s hard to win in this league. Despite public opinion, I love being in Cleveland and I want to win a title with this group.”

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy for Mitchell, which is why this time he wants to actually enjoy the moment. He was the best player on this Jazz team in 2021, but he was far from the most experienced guy on the roster. To be honest, he was far from the most mature player on this team.

In most cases, people mature naturally within four years through life experience alone. So leading an up-and-coming Cleveland team in 2024 is much different than it will be for Mitchell in 2021.

“I think the way he communicates has been very welcomed,” said first-year Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson. “He has an attention to detail and the way he reaches out to us and constantly texts and communicates has been great. “He’s taken a leadership role here.”

When the Cavaliers played the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers in a row over the weekend, Mitchell’s teammates mocked him in the locker room for dunking less this season. When Mitchell came into the league from Louisville, he played above the rim. On Friday night, he opted for a simple two-handed dunk on a breakaway. When reporters and his teammates told him that this dunk would have been a breeze a few years ago, Mitchell laughed and pointed out that he had dunked in three straight games.

It was a funny joke, but it serves as a metaphor for Mitchell and the circle of basketball life in general. Mitchell is not the same athlete at 28 as he was at 22. That’s not many. That’s one of the many reasons Mitchell knows he and the Cavaliers must take advantage of the opportunity presented.

“You see the playoff losses and you’re like, ‘Okay, there’s a window,'” he said.

Mitchell sees real similarities between this Cleveland team and the Jazz team that rose to the top of the league. Critics claim Mitchell and Darius Garland are too small to win a title, just as they did when Mitchell played alongside Conley at Utah. This Jazz team utilized dynamic ball movement and a sophisticated offensive system that emphasized 3-point shooting. This Cleveland team is doing the same thing.

This Jazz team and this Cleveland team had a monster lob threat and a rim protector under center in Gobert and Jarrett Allen, respectively. This Jazz team and this Cleveland team both surprised the NBA with their regular season success.

There is a difference. This Cleveland team has Evan Mobley and the Jazz team doesn’t. And Mobley is a versatile, two-way 7-footer who can make a dominant impact in the playoffs.

“It’s different because we have two (big men) back there,” Mitchell said. “It’s different because our perimeter defense has taken a step. But there are some very similar comparisons that are easy to look at and think, ‘Okay, I get that.’ There are definitely a lot of similarities.”

Even though Mitchell’s minutes and raw point production have declined, it is obvious that Mitchell is playing at an All-NBA level when watching him over time. He defends better than ever before as a professional, especially because his reduced involvement in offense means he can focus more on defense. He plays with more speed and shoots 40 percent from 3-point range for the first time in his career. He no longer forces himself to play, which was a major weakness in the past. He’s trying more than ever to empower his teammates, especially Mobley.

Mitchell is playing 31.6 minutes per night, by far the lowest playing time of his career. It remains to be seen how patient he will be in the playoffs. But one of the reasons the Cavaliers have been so good this season is because Mitchell has accepted a lighter workload. And the irony is that it has made him a better all-round player.

“Going this route and playing fewer minutes, that was the biggest difference for me,” Mitchell said. “Winning heals everything and that’s the most important thing. I had to get used to knowing that I couldn’t stand this nonsense. But there’s so much talent on this team, and it’s easy to see. I think the way the veterans in Utah treated me, the way they groomed me, is the same thing I want to do to these guys.”

Mitchell has no regrets about his time in Utah or his relationship with Gobert, good or bad. Their breakup was unfortunate because they were so compatible as players. Gobert was not a scorer; Mitchell scored for both. Mitchell wasn’t the best defender in the world; Gobert was actually the greatest defender in the world. Gobert was the best screener in the NBA; One of Mitchell’s key strengths is his ability to navigate screens off the dribble and make three-pointers.

They both wanted to win, but they approached victory in different ways. And both would tell you in honest moments that they didn’t handle their differences well off the floor.

“I think we would both say we weren’t our most mature selves,” Mitchell said. “But it’s hard because at 21 or 22 you’re never as mature as you’re going to be. The funny thing is, after the COVID thing, we did our best. I think we had everything on the table and were able to go out and make a basket.

“I would do it all again if I could. I’m grateful for that because it allowed me to become that player and that person.”

(Top photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)