Donovan Mitchell's return to Salt Lake City was one of the biggest storylines of the season. He spent the first five seasons of his career in Utah, but even though he never formally requested a trade, it was evident he wanted to pursue a new challenge.
Mitchell is now thriving side by side with Darius Garland, putting together one of the most prominent backcourts in the league. So, all things considered, some worried fans could boo him when he came back to face the Jazz.
Fortunately, that wasn't the case, which is slightly surprising, especially considering how open he was about racism and all the stuff that happened off the court in Utah, going as far as to say it was 'draining.'
NBA News: Donovan Mitchell Talks About Racism In Utah
(Transcript via Kelsey Russo — The Athletic)
"There were a couple of reasons for the speculation around Mitchell’s return to Utah, but the two go hand-in-hand. The first is the offseason saga of the Jazz, eventually moving Mitchell and him landing in Cleveland.
Secondly — and more prominently — dealt with Mitchell’s use of his platform to speak out about racial inequality and show his support for movements that focused on racial equality. Over his five years in Salt Lake City, Mitchell continuously spoke up to varying degrees on a number of issues surrounding social justice, racism and equality.
'I really want to harp on the fact that I don’t speak on everybody when I bring up what I bring up. And I think that’s something that gets lost in the shuffle,' Mitchell said. 'It’s easy to point out the negative. We live in a world where everything’s funneled through it. But at the end of the day, we did a lot of good, man and I think that’s something that I want to make sure it’s always harped on. But I’m not gonna stop using my voice the way that I feel like I should.'
'It’s not every fan; it’s not everybody,' Mitchell reiterated. 'But there are things that I see and here that I didn’t bring up in the interview, and I didn’t want to bring up because I knew how much it would get a reaction on social media.'"
Mitchell was quite politically correct and polite when discussing these delicate matters. But it's nice to know that, despite all of this, some fans were still able to put their feelings aside and welcomed him back with open arms.
