Donovan Mitchell declared himself ready to return on Sunday from the ankle sprain that has sidelined him since April 16, but the Jazz disagreed with the All-Star’s assessment, ruling him out for Game 1.
As Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets, Jazz head coach Quin Snyder explained before the game that the team’s medical staff met with Mitchell after shootaround and decided to hold him out. Snyder acknowledged that Mitchell wasn’t thrilled with the decision, MacMahon adds.
The last-minute change of plans also left Mitchell’s teammates confused, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. Rudy Gobert said he was “surprised” to wake up from his nap and find out that Mitchell wasn’t playing, while Bojan Bogdanovic was unsure about the reason for the decision.
“I mean, I don’t know what happened, honestly, with the decision for him and the medical staff to keep him out,” Bogdanovic said. “You should ask him.”
The decision figures to face increased scrutiny due to the fact that the Jazz lost Game 1 to the Grizzlies on Sunday night. However, the good news is that Game 2 won’t take place until Wednesday, giving Mitchell two days before Utah returns to the court. It would be surprising if the 24-year-old remains active for that game — late on Sunday night, he tweeted, “Sorry y’all… I wish I could say more…. I’ll be out there soon!”
Here are a few more Northwest notes:
- Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic identifies five challenges facing the Timberwolves as their offseason begins, including filling out Chris Finch‘s staff, addressing a hole in the frontcourt, and determining Malik Beasley‘s role going forward.
- Spenser Davis of Daily Thunder passes along three key takeaways from Thunder GM Sam Presti‘s end-of-season press conference. Presti indicated that he expects Oklahoma City’s rebuild to take some time and told reporters that he’d be open to moving either up or down in the draft, depending on where the Thunder’s picks land.
- Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post contends that the Nuggets are already approaching must-win territory in Game 2 of their first-round series after dropping Game 1 to Portland.
Five challenges facing twolves?) There’s at least 15 reasons. They should trade KAT while they still can.
MPJ’s little experiment with finding how to solve defenses is in quite a threat of ending earlier than anticipated.
Denver turning to Markus Howard, an actual guard, to fill in for Murray is wise for now, but is not a title-winning plan.
MPJ was once listed by espn’s Marks as the league’s top trading asset. Denver should pull the trigger on a trade for a top guard before he loses value. Too late now but there’s offseason coming up.
MPJ has played at All-Star level this year!
No way DEN trades him, like at all!
By now he is already better than Murray!
Just needs more experience, he is only in his second season, usually the great rookies like him go to bad teams, so they can play a lot not caring ’bout winning, but he went to a great team, so it has been harder for him, which means he is even better than what he already shows!
I always said MPJ went to the wrong team. That’s one reason why he has so much trade value. Denver needs a top guard and someone that fits with Jokic.
I would say Jokic set their “timeline”… MPJ better hurry, but he is so solo.
OKC’s rebuild will take some time. They will remain near the bottom of the Western conference for the rest of the decade. Their pick swap with Houston in 2025 is worthless, hopefully the one this summer will be too. The first round picks they get from Houston in 2024 and 2026 will both be in the late 20’s, possibly #29 or #30.
They have divisional neighbor Houston to race against, both relying on youth.