The Utah Jazz are in a tough spot when it comes to rookie guard Donovan Mitchell. The team is down 1-0 in their series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and while it’s not the end of the world if the Jazz lose on Wednesday night because the series still has to shift back to Utah, no team wants to be in a 2-0 hole.
This would mean Mitchell, who has been the team’s best offensive player this year, would be leaned on pretty heavily to counteract the two-headed monster of Paul George and Russell Westbrook. The problem is that Mitchell has a foot injury, and he believes that he needs to do the smart thing when it comes to managing his bum wheel.
Mitchell spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon and stressed that while he wants to play in Game 2, he doesn’t want to be in a position where he can make his injury worse and hurt his team going forward.
“I’m real determined on playing but if my body can’t, I’m not going to push it now and then not be available the rest of the series,” Mitchell said, according to Eric Woodyard of Deseret News. “I think it’s a matter of being smart with it as well as understanding that I do want to play so it’s tough for me because I want to play through anything, but I’ve got to be smart with it as well.”
This is objectively a good approach from Mitchell — if he has to miss time due to his foot, it’s better for him to miss one game in Oklahoma City than it is for him to potentially miss an extended period of time, especially if that includes some games in Utah. It’s totally possible that he plays on Wednesday night and this injury isn’t something that prevents him from having to sit out at all, but if Mitchell has to sit out so that he can get healthy, he seems prepared to do just that.
