“You’re Fired. Everyone. You’re Fired”: How the Utah Jazz Kept Their Desperation for Donovan Mitchell a Secret

The NBA community considers the drafts something to look forward to, as a new talent joins the league. Every year, some rookies stand out even before any franchise drafts them, while others show their true colors after joining a team. However, things take an interesting turn when a player’s first team changes overnight. Here’s how that happened with Donovan Mitchell, when the Utah Jazz got him to come on board in complete secrecy.

Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz secret

Everyone knows that in 2017, the Utah Jazz got ahold of their star player, Donovan Mitchell. However, similar to how Kobe Bryant‘s Charlotte Hornets’ stint is rather unknown, so is Mitchell with the Denver Nuggets’.

The Denver Nuggets were the ones who initially drafted Mitchell as the 13th overall pick. However, Mitchell’s performance in the pre-draft workouts came to the attention of the Utah Jazz. While watching the shooting guard perform in the three-on-three, the then Jazz GM, Dennis Lindsey observed something that others may not have.

He realized that Mitchell didn’t know how good he was. The GM was well aware that pre-draft workouts were not the same as the very intense five-on-five NBA games. However, he believed that the skills he saw that day in Mitchell’s game were more that enough to make him a star.

According to The Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps, Lindsey said,

“I think as much as anything it gave us some confirmation that a few things that we were picking up live and on video and statistically, you know he showed that not only was he a good player but that he was almost growing by the day.”

After realizing Mitchell’s potential, Dennis Lindsey made sure the news of his interest in Mitchell never became public.

David Locke, the Jazz’s radio play-by-play man,  was also a witness to Mitchell’s mesmerizing performance. Bontemps wrote,

“One of the guys [Lindsey] works with came over,” Locke said, “and literally was like, ‘Dennis wants to make it clear, if any word about this workout gets out, you’re fired. Everyone. You’re fired.’”

This was how desperate Jazz was to get Donovan Mitchell, and get him they did. It all seems to have ended up happening for the best. Mitchell already has a few achievements under his belt and continues to improve.