Donovan Mitchell has become a NBA player every Louisville fan roots for. Whenever he is on TV balling out, you can bet a significant chunk of people in Louisville are watching. We watched as he had a playoff performance for the ages when he scored 50+ points in 2 games of a 7-game series loss against Denver in the Western Conference first round. That performance introduced Donovan as a legit superstar player to the nation. Now, it’s being reported by ESPN’s Woj he has secured the bag and signed a rookie-max deal to remain in Utah.
The deal is guaranteed for $163M and could increase to the $195M by meeting the All-NBA criteria for the 2020-2021 season. https://t.co/llOeo4t1Xl
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 22, 2020
You read that right. Donovan will remain in Utah for the next 5 years and make a whopping $163 million guaranteed. If certain criteria is met, it could increase the value of his deal to $195 million. He’s earned every penny, as he has progressed from rookie to superstar in 3 seasons. Mitchell earned his first All-Star selection this season and he helped his undermanned Jazz team, missing starting F Bojan Bogdanovic’, take the Denver Nuggets to 7 games. In those 7 games, he scored 57 points, 51 points, 44 points, 30 points (2x), 22 points, and 20 points.
In Donovan’s young career, he’s averaging 22.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. Last season was his best season all around. He 24 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1 steals per game. He’s increased his average in points, rebounds, and assists incrementally in each of his 3 seasons. So, it stands to reason, Donovan should increase his stats again this upcoming season.
Donovan Mitchell has secured his financial future with a franchise that has made him its face and cornerstone. It should be fun for Louisville fans to see what Donovan does to build on his incredible playoff performance this upcoming season. Louisville is lucky to have a young man representing the university as awesome as Donovan is. The Utah Jazz just became appointment TV for UofL fans for the next 5 years. Congrats to Cardinal Forever Donovan Mitchell.
*stats courtesy of basketball-reference.com
