Donovan Mitchell Got Emotional Explaining Why He Brought His Sister Out In The Dunk Contest


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Donovan Mitchell took home the Verizon Dunk Contest title on Saturday night in Los Angeles thanks to four consistently excellent dunks. Mitchell might not have had one of the two best dunks on the night, as those honors probably went to Dennis Smith Jr. and Larry Nance Jr., but he did put on quite the show and certainly earned his high scores.

Mitchell wasn’t afraid to use props, but he didn’t go too overboard with them and, most importantly, he finished all his dunks on the first attempt so the prop didn’t lose it’s cache a la Aaron Gordon and the drone last year. His Vince Carter tribute finished off the contest and the 48 he earned for that dunk sealed the win, but afterwards Mitchell pointed to a different dunk that was the most special to him.

For his second dunk of the first round, the Rookie of the Year candidate brought out his sister, Jordan, Kevin Hart and Hart’s son and had them squat so he could dunk over them after catching an alley-oop off the side of the backboard. It was an impressive dunk, namely for how far back he had to reach to catch the ball, and earned him a 50 to give him a four point lead.

Mitchell explained in his post-win press conference why it was so important to him to have his sister with him at All-Star and to bring her out onto the floor. The quote is something that’s probably relatable for a lot of kids who have siblings that play sports at a travel ball level and shows an impressive level of understanding of the sacrifices his sister made to be at his events over the years.

If the incredible numbers he’s putting up for Utah and the dunk contest performance didn’t do it for you, it’s almost impossible not to want to root for Mitchell after reading that quote.

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