Donovan Mitchell

He surpassed Darrell Griffith's team-record 38 in 1981.

Mitchell also became the seventh rookie in franchise history to have a 30-plus point game, as well as the first to have a 40-plus point game.

Mitchell opted to wear number 45 on his jersey in appreciation for Michael Jordan, who took the same number during his baseball career and the early part of his NBA comeback in 1995.

As a freshman at the University of Louisville, Mitchell started in no more than five games and averaged 7.4 points, 1.7 assists, and 3.4 rebounds for the season.

Over his sophomore season, Mitchell averaged 15.6 points, 2.7 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 46.3 percent from the floor as well as 35.4 from behind the arc and 80.6 percent from the free-throw line.

He was named to the First Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference.

Donovan Mitchell Jr. (born September 7, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Mitchell was born on September 7, 1996, to parents Donovan Sr. and Nicole in Elmsford, New York.

His mother, who is of Panamanian descent, is a teacher and his father is a former Minor League Baseball player.

With his father serving as a director of player relations for the New York Mets, Mitchell spent his childhood around Major League Baseball locker rooms.

At seven years old, he looked up to star pitcher of the Mets' minor-league system Scott Kazmir and later to David Wright, who was the first poster he hung on his wall.

Mitchell has one younger sister named Jordan.

He played AAU basketball for both The City and the Riverside Hawks programs out of New York City.

In 2010, Mitchell was present at the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich (Conn.) when LeBron James announced his decision to sign with the Miami Heat.

Mitchell attended Canterbury School in New Milford for his first two years of high school, after having graduated from Greenwich Country Day School likewise in Connecticut.

Besides basketball, Mitchell played baseball for Canterbury.

Yet his high school baseball career ended in his sophomore year after incurring injury; dashing for a pop-up in the infield, Mitchell collided with a catcher, who suffered a broken jaw while he received a broken wrist as a result.

It also ended his upcoming AAU season.

For his junior and senior years, his mother transferred him to Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

Making basketball his focus and availing of Brewster's nationally prominent program, Mitchell garnered considerably more attention from college basketball coaches.

He quickly proved popular among his new schoolmates; so much so, he ran for senior prefect at the end of his junior year.

He also acted in the school musical and gave tours to visiting students in his role as a member of the Gold Key Club.

He won two prep school national championships with Brewster's team.

As he would later do in college, Mitchell spent his summers playing in streetball games at the famed Rucker Park in New York City.

At an event sponsored by Under Armour on a Brooklyn basketball court, he did a dunk that went on to be featured on Sports Center.

He set the Jazz scoring record for a rookie and became the first NBA rookie to score 40 points in a game since Blake Griffin in 2011.

Mitchell was invited to play in the regional game for the Jordan Brand Classic, ranking twenty-seventh in the 2015 class by one recruiting service and forty-third by another.

He committed to the University of Louisville to play college basketball.

Nicknamed "Spida", he was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft and acquired by the Utah Jazz, whom he played for from 2017 to 2022.

He is a five-time NBA All-Star.

Mitchell played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals, earning first-team all-conference honors in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2017.

Though he did not immediately hire an agent, Mitchell declared for the 2017 NBA draft on the heels of his sophomore campaign.

Mitchell was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 13th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft only to be traded to the Utah Jazz for the 24th pick (Tyler Lydon) and Trey Lyles.

On July 5, 2017, Mitchell signed a four-year rookie scale contract with the Jazz.

On July 11, 2017, Mitchell signed a multi-year shoe deal with Adidas.

Later that day, Mitchell scored 37 points against the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2017 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, the most by any player during the 2017 NBA Summer League.

In his NBA debut on October 18, 2017, Mitchell registered 10 points and four assists against the Denver Nuggets.

On December 1, 2017, he scored a career-high 41 points in a 114–108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

As a rookie with the Utah Jazz, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and won the Slam Dunk Contest in 2018.

He was traded from the Jazz to the Cavaliers in 2022.