Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell was openly unhappy with teammate Rudy Gobert over the way Gobert acted prior to testing positive for the coronavirus, but Mitchell insists things are fine between the two heading into the resumption of the season.
Gobert was the first NBA player to test positive for the coronavirus, which led to the league and other major sports leagues shutting down. Mitchell tested positive later that day, and he was upset with Gobert for the cavalier attitude the center showed about the coronavirus prior to testing positive. Four months later, Mitchell says things are “good” between the two.
“To be honest with you, I understand that y’all got to ask this question. But you know, right now we’re good,” Mitchell told reporters on Thursday, per Sam Amick of The Athletic. “We’re going out there ready to hoop, um, and I think the biggest thing, you know, that, that kind of sucks was that it took away from the guys on the team, um, took (away) from what the guys on the team were trying to do, and I really wish that, as going forward, you know I think that will be, really, the primary focus, is just us jelling as a team.”
Mitchell was then asked why he chose to let the situation linger for so long rather than addressing it. He said he didn’t want to provide headline material by addressing the same issue over and over again. Mitchell said he only cared about his teammates knowing the truth.
“I wanted my teammates to know that this is how I feel,” he added. “There are moments when you’re just tired of continuing to hear over and over again, and I’m tired of addressing it, kind of going, ‘No, that’s not true’ and ‘No, this is not true’ because then you find yourself all over Twitter trying to call out people for no reason. So I just let it, and addressed it with my teammates.”
Gobert mocked concerns over the coronavirus before he realized he had contracted it. It’s unclear if he passed it on to Mitchell. In any event, the two players appear to have smoothed things over.
The Jazz are 41-23 and seeded fourth in the West.
