Donovan Mitchell is averaging 29 points per game, the highest number of his career, for a Cleveland Cavaliers team that is suddenly red-hot and favored to make the NBA Finals. He made First Team All-NBA for the first time in his career last year, and he just completed his seventh turn as an All-Star, yet despite his status as one of the best guards in the league, Mitchell seems to fly under the radar.
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Even on his own team, Mitchell isn’t the biggest story right now, not after the Cavs made one of the splashiest moves of the deadline by trading for James Harden. How those two guards co-exist will be one of the most fascinating stories to watch as the rest of the season plays out.
Mitchell was in California last weekend after playing a road game against the Kings on Saturday, which worked out perfectly because it gave him the opportunity to attend the Super Bowl. Though his beloved Cowboys weren’t playing in the big game (and haven’t in quite a while), Mitchell still had a huge interest in the proceedings, because his fiancee Coco Jones sang Lift Every Voice and Sing before the game.
Jones nailed it while wearing a Whitney Houston-inspired outfit, but as he wrote in his recurring diary for Andscape, her performance wasn’t the only memorable thing that happened for Mitchell. He also got his hands on a piece of Bad Bunny’s much-talked-about halftime show.
“As we were leaving on a golf cart, I saw the dancers in the trees,” he began.
“And they were throwing [the tree costumes] away, some were keeping them. I watched this happen and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to take one home.’ I went up there, I said, ‘Hey, can I grab one?’ They gave me one. I took it and sped off in the golf cart. It’s historic. That’s how I look at it,” Mitchell revealed.
Bad Bunny’s performance was a memorable one, not only for the controversy it generated, but because it was so visually stunning. The “trees” played a large part in that, and many people didn’t realize until afterwards that there were actually people in them.
Mitchell undoubtedly has his share of cool memorabilia thanks to jersey swaps, etc., but this has to be one of the most unique pieces in his collection.
Mitchell mentioned that he saw one of the trees listed on eBay for $10,000, but he figures as time goes on, it will be worth much more than that. Something tells us he doesn’t need the money though and will keep this one.
Mitchell is currently averaging 1.5 steals per game for the fifth time in his career, but he’s never swiped anything this cool before. Flying under the radar does have some benefits, after all.
