Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell (45) goes in for a lay-up as the Utah Jazz and the Sacramento Kings play an NBA basketball game at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 10, 2021. The Jazz won 128-112. Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY– The Utah Jazz’s shooting guard Donovan Mitchell completed a full practice with the team Thursday and says he plans to be ready for game one on Sunday.
The all-star sprained his ankle in the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers on April 16. This caused Mitchell to miss his team’s final 16 games of the season where they finished 10-6 without him and were able to still finish with the league’s best record.
“Practice was good,” Mitchell said. “I got out there and competed. You can tell it’s the first time in, what is it four or five weeks? But that’s to be expected.”
X-rays initially came back negative and an MRI showed a severe ankle sprain. The Jazz’s star shooting guard says he was not going to rush himself back too soon.
“The injury wasn’t something to play with,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t as minor as it was made out to be, I’ll leave it at that. I definitely had some hurdles.”
The team is still waiting on who its opponent will be as the NBA is still completing its play-in tournament. The Jazz will host the winner of the Golden State Warriors vs. the Memphis Grizzlies which will be played Friday. The team has not reported on if there will be a minutes restriction.
“I don’t want to go out there full bore and then hurt it again,” Mitchell said, “But at the end of the day it is the playoffs and you’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to compete and you’ve got to be ready.”
The first game will tip off at 7:30 PM and will be televised on TNT.
To read more about the Jazz and Mitchell’s status check out KSL Sports.