Donovan Mitchell Missed Opportunity To Meet Michael Jordan

SALT LAKE CITY – Donovan Mitchell missed his opportunity to meet Michael Jordan during All-Star weekend in Cleveland.

Jordan was at the All-Star game on Sunday night as part of the NBA’s 75th-Anniversary team celebration along with dozens of other NBA legends.

While Mitchell was also in Cleveland, the Utah Jazz guard was stuck in his room battling an upper respiratory illness.

“I’ve never actually physically met Michael Jordan, so that would have been a moment where I could have,” Mitchell said. “I was actually supposed to do the halftime speech that Ja [Morant], Luka [Doncic], and all those guys did.”

🌟 @luka7doncic and Michael Jordan at #NBAAllStar! pic.twitter.com/v89Y4tTrtR

— NBA (@NBA) February 21, 2022

It’s not the first time Mitchell was robbed of an opportunity to meet the NBA’s most famous star.

The guard thought he’d be playing for Jordan who is the owner of the Charlotte Hornets, but things changed on draft night.

“I was supposed to go to Charlotte, I don’t know if you know that,” Michell said. “I was supposed to be on the Hornets, at least that’s what I was informed of in the morning [of the draft].”

Luckily for the Jazz, the Hornets opted to select Malik Monk with the 11th pick, letting Mitchell fall to the Denver Nuggets with the 13th pick which was quickly redirected to Utah.

“I was going to go back for a second workout and Mike was going to be there but things didn’t align, the stars didn’t align,” Mitchell said. “So it would have been great to just be able to just meet him for the first time.”

Quin Snyder Shares His Star Moment

Though Mitchell hasn’t gotten a chance to meet his childhood icon, Jazz coach Quin Snyder shared his story of meeting the man he idolized growing up.

An honor he got twice.

“John Wooden when I was 18 in the McDonald’s All-American Game,” Snyder said. “I got my picture taken with him.”

Wooden was the head coach of the UCLA Bruins from 1948-75 where he won 10 national championships in a 12-year span.

Quin Snyder discussed the people throughout his career that he was excited to meet.

He mentioned meeting John Wooden twice, both playing in the All-American game when he was 18, and here, at the Wooden Classic. (Getty Images) pic.twitter.com/IWZUEbsaTI

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) February 24, 2022

Snyder was one of the top-ranked high school prospects coming out of Mercer Island in Washington before committing to Duke.

Then, Snyder got another opportunity to meet Wooden when he was coaching a team of his oww.

“I was coaching in college at Missouri and played in the Wooden Classic, and I met him again,” Snyder said. “He’s someone that I’ve always looked up to, so as a coach, that would jump out.”

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