Donovan Mitchell remembers COVID-19 shutdown with Jazz teammates: ‘we got drunk I’m not going to lie’

Former Utah Jazz player Donovan Mitchell remembers exactly where he was when COVID-19 caused the NBA to shut down during the 2019-2020 season.

Stuck in an Oklahoma City locker room with his teammates for nine hours, to drink 15 bottles of wine courtesy of Chris Paul, Mitchell will “never forget that night,” he said on “The Old Man & The Three” podcast with JJ Reddick.

Preparing to face the Thunder without center Rudy Gobert, Mitchell and his teammates weren’t thinking about COVID-19 at all. Instead, they were concerned about supporting teammate Tony Bradley who “hadn’t really started much” and would need to step up in Gobert’s absence, Mitchell said. As they went to the floor to begin pregame handshakes, Mitchell remembers “all these suits just come running.”

Mitchell, now a Cleveland Cavalier, said that his first thought was that there “must be a shooter in the building” until they returned to the locker room. There, the team was informed that Gobert had tested positive for COVID, the first case in the NBA.

This time was marked by a widespread uncertainty – before masks were commonplace even. But according to Mitchell, the overall vibe wasn’t panic, but “ just like ‘what can we do?’” he said.

“A scene out of a movie”

Mitchell shouted out Chris Paul (then on the Thunder), during the podcast for sending the team alcohol while they waited to be sent back to their hotel. While nine hours seems like a long time, Oklahoma police and health officials were likely trying to devise a plan for containing the then novel virus that could have potentially spread to more than 50 people that had traveled with the team.

In the meantime though, “we got drunk, I’m not going to lie to you,” Mitchell said. He said that the alcohol consumption was likely an effort to calm nerves around the situation.

Once released from the locker room, the team was escorted by officials in hazmat suits to a Renaissance Inn where they sat on the curb and he called “everyone he knew with a private plane” to “at least get the players out” he said.

Mitchell admits that when he eventually tested positive for COVID-19, he was angry. But he realizes now that there’s no way to know if he contracted the virus from Gobert. Now, he looks back on that night and sees an important time. “It was just a scene out of a movie” Mitchell said, “I have pictures on my phone from that night that I’ll probably frame up in my house at some point in time and tell my kids like ‘this is one of the biggest moments in sports and in the history of the country.”