Donovan Mitchell was heartbroken after the Utah Jazz were eliminated from the playoffs on Tuesday night, but he’s going to have plenty more opportunities to bring the franchise a title.
Mitchell is eligible for a rookie maximum contract extension this offseason, and. Following Utah’s 80-78 loss to, he admitted to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that he was concerned about potentially suffering an injury during the NBA restart and jeopardizing his future earnings. Mitchell did not want to let his teammates down, however.
“There are younger guys who aren’t established in this league and needed this time to show their value,” Mitchell said. “It would have been selfish of me to stand in the way of that. I couldn’t let my contract get in the way of the bigger picture.”
Fortunately, Mitchell did not suffer an injury. He averaged 36.3 points per game in the seven-game series against the Nuggets, scoring more than 50 twice. According to Haynes, Mitchell and the Jazz already have a handshake agreement in place for a five-year contract extension worth roughly $160 million this offseason.
The ending of Tuesday night’s game was as brutal as it gets for the Jazz, but Mitchell further cemented himself as one of the game’s biggest stars. Signing him to a max extension is a no-brainer for Utah.
