Donovan Mitchell ready to move on from COVID-19 drama

Jazz star Donovan Mitchell spoke for the first time since lockdown began.

Being known as one of the athletes that got the NBA shut down at the beginning of the current COVID-19 pandemic is never good for your reputation. For Utah Jazz All-Star Donovan Mitchell, the tension between he and teammate Rudy Gobert was his first taste of negative attention during his rise to stardom.

After Gobert infamously touched all of the recording devices and microphones at the end of a press conference, he and Mitchell were two of the first American celebrities to test positive for the virus.

Though Mitchell and Gobert say they were asymptomatic after contracting the virus, Mitchell was reportedly extremely upset with Gobert’s Laissez Faire attitude towards social distancing and proper hygiene. Enough to send ripples across the league in regards to potential movement in the Jazz organization.

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Ultimately, nothing came of the riff, and for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic pandemonium, Mitchell spoke about he and Gobert’s relationship.

After being asked about Gobert, Mitchell said he wanted to comment on it once and leave it at that. Here are his comments in full on the entire situation:

"”You know, right now we’re good. We’re going out there ready to hoop and I think the biggest thing that kind of sucked was it took away from the guys on the team.I really think that will be the primary focus for us going forward is just jelling as a team, because obviously Rudy and I had COVID and whatever happened happened. But we’re ready to hoop and just focus on the team as a whole. We’re not tying to keep the attention away from everyone else. Obviously we got Bojan out, so we got guys that are really looking good and ready to step up. That’s what we’re really excited about.”"

From everything that Mitchell said, one can surmise that he is past the situation with Gobert and trying to focus on the season.

Given what Mitchell and the rest of the league became accustomed to, this situation is uncharted territory. The sooner players can get back to playing organized basketball, the better for everyone. However, there’s added incentive for Mitchell and the Jazz.

The time off, a period which Mitchell says he spent most of in his mother’s basement, gave him time to heal physically and mentally. Now, the best thing for his psyche and his relationship with Gobert is to do what he does the best.

Mitchell also spoke on his schedule during the time off, and gave a lengthy explanation about his feelings on social injustice.

You can check out the full interview in the video above.