Even though they lost in the first round of the NBA Playoffs last season, the Utah Jazz has to be extremely encouraged with what they saw in the NBA Bubble from their All-Star guard, Donovan Mitchell. Not only has he solidified himself as one of the young faces of the NBA, but he is a household name in the NBA now and will make the Jazz legit contenders for decades to come.
Not only do the Utah Jazz have one of the best players in the NBA 24-years old or younger, but they may have the best player in franchise history since Karl Malone. Donovan Mitchell has been sensational in his first three seasons in the NBA and put himself in elite company last year in the postseason.
In the playoff series against the Nuggets, both Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell joined Michael Jordan (1988) and Allen Iverson (2001) as the only players in NBA history to put up two 50-point games in a single playoff series. Mitchell also scored 57-points in Game 1 of the series, setting a new Jazz single playoff game scoring record, passing Karl Malone who scored 50 points in 2000, as well as posting the third highest scoring total in a Playoff Game in NBA history behind Michael Jordan (63 points, 1986) and Elgin Baylor (61 points, 1961).
On top of all of these achievements for Mitchell, he also joined Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history who were 23 years old or younger to score 57+ points in a playoff game. Anytime your name is being brought up with Michael Jordan’s, it usually means you did something really good.
The list goes on-and-on for the kind of record-breaking season Donovan Mitchell had last year and if he continues to play at this kind of level, we may be talking about a lot more than All-Star appearances for Mitchell as he could play his way into the All-NBA conversation and potential MVP conversation.
Utah Jazz fans have to be thrilled that Donovan Mitchell is the face of their franchise moving forward and he is the prime reason why they are a force in the Western Conference. The Jazz has a really solid chance at being a strong team this year and with that being said, here are 4 bold predictions for the Utah Jazz entering the 2020-21 NBA season.
