IT’S EARLY NOVEMBER and Donovan Mitchell is on set at The Gym at City Creek, in downtown Salt Lake City. The gym itself looks like something out of NBA 2K. On one side, there’s a wall covered in neon green, pink and orange graffiti tags and a spray-painted mural of two people playing oneon-one, on the other side are chain-linked fences protecting the glass windows that overlook a mall across the street and with a skyline of the mountain range in the backdrop.
Drake’s Certified Lover Boy is on, and Mitchell quietly sings along to “Love All” in between takes. The lyrics seem to echo a truth that’s reflective of his own journey.
Lotta fallin’ outs help me build foundation…
Now in his fifth year in the NBA, Mitchell is on a mission to do something that’s never been done before in the Beehive State—win the franchise’s first NBA title.
“It’s not like this is a regular occurrence here [in Utah],” Mitchell says of winning a ’chip. “This isn’t like the Lakers where they have [17] of them. This is us. The team, the organization has never won one. So, how meaningful would that be? If you look at three or four years ago, Kawhi went to Toronto [and] that was a truly special moment for the country, for the team, for the organization.
