Donovan Mitchell was a member of the Utah Jazz prior to getting traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he had some great years with the franchise. During his five regular seasons with the Utah Jazz, Donovan Mitchell averaged 23.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 4.5 APG.
While he had some good years with the Utah Jazz, Donovan Mitchell recently admitted that it was “draining” to be in Salt Lake City due to things “off the floor”. Marc Spears of Andscape relayed the news.
It’s a little comforting for me, 100%. I’m not going to lie about that. It’s no secret there’s a lot of stuff that I dealt with being in Utah off the floor. If I’m being honest with you, I never really said this, but it was draining. It was just draining on my energy just because you can’t sit in your room and cheer for me and then do all these different things. I’m not saying specifically every fan, but I just feel like it was a lot of things. A [Utah] state senator [Stuart Adams] saying I need to get educated on my own Black history. Seeing Black kids getting bullied because of their skin color. Seeing a little girl [Isabella Tichenor] hang herself because she’s being bullied.
Man, it was just one thing after another. And I will say, it’s not the only place it happens. But for me, I’m continuing to be an advocate for [racial equality] and to receive the amount of pushback I got over the years, it was a lot.
There is no doubt that it must have been tough for Donovan Mitchell to deal with some of the things in Utah. Watching Black children getting bullied for their skin color must have been horrible to watch as well, and hopefully, we see those issues get resolved in the future.
Donovan Mitchell Doesn’t Think The Utah Jazz Should Retire His Jersey
Though he had a good tenure with the Utah Jazz, Donovan Mitchell thinks that the Utah Jazz don’t need to retire his jersey. He pointed out that he hasn’t done enough, but added that he would be “grateful, honored, and blessed” if his jersey was retired by the franchise.
There are 12 numbers retired in Jazz history. But even with his impact on and off the court in Utah, the former Jazz star does not believe his No. 45 jersey deserves to be hanging in the rafters retired at Vivint Arena.
“I don’t think I did enough,” Mitchell told Andscape. “I hold myself to a high standard. Now, other people may feel that it should. I’d be happy and forever grateful, honored and blessed for sure for that to happen. But I don’t think I’ve done enough in five years to have my jersey up there with Karl, John [Stockton], Pistol Pete and Darrell Griffith. I got a long way in my career to go to continue to be better.”
It remains to be seen if the Utah Jazz will retire Donovan Mitchell’s jersey in the future. Though it would be awesome for Mitchell, it seems as though the star understands that he hasn’t accomplished enough with the franchise for that to happen.
Hopefully, we see Donovan Mitchell find success in the future. He is definitely a talented player, and perhaps we will see him win a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the coming years.
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