NBA: Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell returns to Utah for first time since trade

With the Cleveland Cavaliers visiting Utah on Tuesday night, there will be a lot of attention surrounding the former Jazz guard, who is quite popular with fans.

This shows Raul Neto? Ricky Rubio? Not exactly.

Ready or not, Jazz fans. Donovan Mitchell is back in town for the first time since being traded last summer. Considering the recent comments he’s made about liking Cleveland more than Salt Lake City, it seems like some Shakespearian sports drama could accompany Mitchell’s visit.

The question for some Jazz fans I become: Boo, or no boo?

Externally, Jazz owner Ryan Smith and CEO Danny Ainge said they are eagerly waiting to return and continue to root for the All-Star, which they dealt with for the player’s treasure and draft pick when they decided to break up the Mitchell-Rudy Gobert pair. .

“I think everybody should celebrate,” Smith told 97.5 KSL Sports Zone radio. “We forget so quickly that this is a kid who came out and pumped life into this franchise and gave us all these memories.”

Ainge agreed about Mitchell, who averaged 23.9 points over his first five NBA seasons in Utah. Mitchell had his best year with Cleveland, scoring a career-high 28.8 points per game on 48.8% shooting.

“Great story, he just keeps getting better. I’m still a big fan of Donovan,” Ainge told KSL-TV. “I wish him nothing but the best, and I hope that people will accept him with enthusiasm and energy, and he deserves it.”

Cleveland comes to Utah having won four of their last five games, including two wins over the Phoenix Suns. January 2 proved a historic night for Mitchell, who triggered the Cavaliers to 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 the first game against his former team in Cleveland on December 19.

“It’s weird,” he said of playing against the Jazz. “But it’s fun.”

It’s not fun for the Jazz, who have won just three times since that game. Utah has lost nine of 12, including back-to-back road games vs. Chicago (126-118) and Memphis (123-118) over the weekend.

“They kicked our ass,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said about Cleveland’s first game. “They shot the ball well from all three levels of the pitch. They played at a good pace. They physically harassed us in the first half, which put us behind by eight balls.

As for Mitchell’s reception on Tuesday, freshman teammate Darius Garland believes it will be positive.

“It should be a standing ovation,” Garland told Cleveland.com. “All the work he’s done and everything he’s done for the city – playoff appearances, All-Star appearances, a lot of wins – I expect the best ovation. I hope so.”

And Mitchell’s expectations?

“I don’t know what the response is. Hopefully it’s fun,” Mitchell said after his team’s 112-98 win in Phoenix on Sunday. “We did a lot of good things there. Obviously, we did not reach our final goal. But I have a lot of positives despite not winning the championship. It is not easy. Only one team did. We had five cracks, and we missed.

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