With the Cleveland Cavaliers visiting Utah on Tuesday night, there will be a lot of attention surrounding a former Jazz guard, one who was quite popular with the fans.
This refers to Raul Neto? Ricky Rubio? Not exactly.
Ready or not, Jazz fans. Donovan Mitchell is returning to town for the first time since he was traded away last summer. Considering recent remarks he has made about enjoying Cleveland more than Salt Lake City, it seems some Shakespearian sports drama may accompany Mitchell’s visit.
The question for some Jazz fans my be: To boo, or not to boo?
Outwardly, Jazz owner Ryan Smith and CEO Danny Ainge say they eagerly await his return and continue to root for the All-Star, whom they dealt for a treasure trove of players and draft picks when they decided to break up the Mitchell-Rudy Gobert pairing.
Ainge concurs about Mitchell, who averaged 23.9 points during his first five NBA seasons in Utah. Mitchell is having his best year yet with Cleveland, scoring a career-high 28.8 points per game on 48.8% shooting.
Cleveland comes into Utah having won four of its last five games, including two wins over the Phoenix Suns. Jan. 2 proved a historic night for Mitchell, who sparked the Cavaliers to an overtime win over Chicago by scoring 71 points, with 11 assists and eight rebounds.
Mitchell scored 23 points and sat out the fourth quarter of a 122-99 win over Utah in his first game against former team in Cleveland on Dec. 19.
It wasn’t so fun for the Jazz, who have won only three times since that game. Utah has lost nine of 12, including back-to-back games road games vs. Chicago (126-118) and Memphis (123-118) over the weekend.
As for Mitchell’s reception on Tuesday, new teammate Darius Garland believes it will be positive.
