The Utah Jazz saw one of their most prominent players suffer a pretty nasty looking injury on Friday afternoon. During the third quarter of the team’s game against the Indiana Pacers, Donovan Mitchell jumped up in the air to try and contest a pass thrown by Pacers guard Edmond Sumner.
Mitchell was unable to deflect the pass, but upon landing, the All-Star came down awkwardly on his right leg, rolling his ankle and going down in some serious pain.
Donovan Mitchell goes down hard with a leg injury and needs to be helped off the court by Jazz teammates.
Prayers up for Spida 🙏🏽pic.twitter.com/kl1URgIE4N
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 16, 2021
Better look at that Donovan Mitchell injury. Right ankle #PacersJazz pic.twitter.com/hK6puHSTlC
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) April 16, 2021
Mitchell spent some time on the deck before he was helped into the locker room while very obviously favoring his right ankle. Prior to the injury, Mitchell was the game’s leading scorer, dropping 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting against the Pacers. The team announced that the injury is an ankle sprain, and although an MRI is still outstanding, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that x-rays on the ankle were negative.
X-Rays negative and MRI coming tonight on Donovan Mitchell's sprained right ankle, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 16, 2021
Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has a right ankle sprain and is out for remainder of game vs. Indiana.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 16, 2021
It would very obviously be a gigantic loss for the Jazz, which boast the best record in the league and sit one game ahead of the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference, if Mitchell were to miss any sort of extended period of time. While the team can certainly stay afloat with him on the sideline due to Jordan Clarkson’s nuclear scoring ability and Mike Conley’s resurgence this season, Mitchell has been the team’s top scorer this year, averaging a career-best 26.5 points per game.
