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Eric WoodyardESPN
Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell can now smile and admit, “It’s been a long few months for me.”
Mitchell tested positive for the coronavirus, got negative comments on social media to address racial issues in the United States, and was involved in some friction with teammate Rudy Gobert. But the All-Star guard says his relationship with Gobert is currently at a strong point.
“Right now we are fine. We will come out ready for the rim,” Mitchell said. “And I think the biggest thing that sucked was that it took away the guys from the team, it took away what the guys from the team were trying to do and I really want that in the future.”
“I think that will really be a part of the focus, we are just gelling as a team because obviously Rudy and I had COVID and what happened happened, but now we are ready to hook up and focus on the team as a team. All because we really are not trying to keep attention away from what everyone else is going through. Obviously we have Bojan [Bogdanovic] so we have some guys who really look good and ready to step forward and that’s what we’re really excited about. “
Mitchell confirmed the tension with Gobert after his positive tests for the coronavirus, calling it “no secret” that he was upset by Gobert’s careless behavior. Before realizing his infection, Gobert playfully and deliberately touched the reporters’ microphones after a press conference.
Gobert and Mitchell did not speak for a month after Gobert’s positive test on March 11, which triggered the suspension of the NBA season. Gobert was the first player to report a positive result for the coronavirus, then Mitchell tested positive the next day.
Mitchell said he did not publicly address his team’s problems because he wanted to handle them internally. He attributed it to his maturity and growth. Mitchell said in his first two seasons that he did not have to deal with anything close to the public scrutiny he had to handle since March.
“I’ve really been going non-stop, so now I think this free time has really allowed me to sit and watch,” Mitchell said. “I’m asking guys in the league questions about how they’ve handled different things and I think it was a time for me to really find myself in a way that I’ve never really found because I’ve been on the go for so long.
“So, it allowed me to sit there and understand that, one, this is a business. And as a professional, it will be high, it will be low, and I knew it especially on the court. But outside of it in court, there are so many different things that They will be great things and things that will open your eyes and make you sit back and reevaluate and look at things, “he said. “I think it was the most important thing for me and just being able to adapt to that without going crazy.”
Jazz executive vice president of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey said in May that Mitchell and Gobert were “ready to put this behind” during a Zoom call with members of the media. Gobert has expressed the same approach.
“It’s not about not being professional. You know, they all have different relationships,” Gobert told the Bleacher Report in April. “It is never perfect. People who are married are never perfect. My teammates and I are far from perfect, but at the end of the day we both want the same thing and it is to win. We are both adult men and we will both do whatever it takes to win. “
Before the break, Mitchell was averaging the best 24.2 points, 4.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds on 45.3% shooting in his first season of Stars. As Utah prepares to enter the Orlando bubble for the league restart, coexisting with Gobert is the least of his concerns, as he approaches a near-guaranteed maximum extension offer. Staying healthy is his biggest concern.
“For me, the most important thing to come back with is injury. Not having played for about 120 days or something, and just being completely stopped and then going straight to the big games,” Mitchell said. “It’s not that these games are like the preseason you’re sitting in, these games matter and I think that’s my biggest concern.”
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