Donovan Mitchell: Everything you need to know about four-time NBA-all-star guard

Donovan Mitchell was born in Elmsford, New York, U.S., to his father, Donovan Sr., and mother, Nicole. His mother is of Panamanian descent and is a teacher, while his father is a former Minor League Baseball player and the director of player relations for the New York Mets. Due to his father’s MLB jobs, Mitchell spent his childhood around Major League Baseball locker rooms.

He has one sibling, a sister named Jordan. Mitchell earned his famous nickname "Spida" from a friend and former teammate's father, as they likened him to a spider due to his long arms and ability to get a lot of steals.

As a seven-year-old kid, Mitchell looked up to the star pitcher of the Mets' minor-league ssystem,Scott Kazmir and David Wright. Wright’s poster was the first he ever hung on his wall.

Mitchell is from Elmsford, New York, U.S., which was his birthplace. Elmsford is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States.

Mitchell was born on September 7, 1996, in New York, USA, and is 27 years old as of October 2023.

Mitchell is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 98kg. His long arms aid his ability to get loads of steals, which is a strong feature of how he plays.

After graduating from Greenwich Country Day School, Mitchell attended Canterbury School in New Milford for his first two years of high school. He played baseball for Canterbury, but his high school baseball career ended quickly in his sophomore year after he sustained an injury. Mitchell’s mother transferred him to Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, for his junior and senior years. At Brewster, he made basketball his focus.

After high school, Mitchell opted for the University of Louisville to play college basketball, wearing the number 45 jersey in appreciation for Michael Jordan, who wore 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 just five games, averaging 7.4 points, 1.7 assists, and 3.4 rebounds for the season. Through his sophomore season, he 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. His performance earned him a place on the All-Atlantic Coast Conference First Team.

In 2017, Mitchell revealed his plan to join the NBA draft after a successful sophomore campaign in college basketball. The Denver Nuggets drafted him as the 13th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, only to be traded to the Utah Jazz in exchange for the 24th pick, Tyler Lydon, and Trey Lyles.

Mitchell has been traded twice in his career. The first was by the Denver Nuggets after his NBA draft in 2017, when he was traded to the Utah Jazz after the Nuggets originally took him as the 13th overall pick.

The second time he was traded was in 2022, from the Jazz to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji, three first-round picks, and two pick swaps.

On September 3, 2022, in a shocking trade by the Jazz, Mitchell was traded to the Cavaliers in exchange for Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton (via sign-and-trade), No. 14 overall pick Ochai Agbaji, the Cavaliers’ unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027, and 2029, and the right to swap first-round picks with the Cavaliers in both 2026 and 2028.

Mitchell signed a four-year rookie-scale contract worth $14.56 million with the Utah Jazz on July 5, 2017. Three years later, in 2020, he signed an extended 5-year contract worth $163 million with an annual average salary of $32,600,060, which kicked in during the 2021–22 season.

Mitchell earns $32,600,060 as his annual salary in his current contract and has a cap hit of $33,162,030. However, he has the opportunity to exercise his player option by the end of his contract (2025–26 season). The Cavaliers guard then becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2026.

He is estimated to be worth around $20 million as of 2023, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Mitchell also has endorsement deals to his name, such as his shoe line deal with Adidas. 

Since his days at the University of Louisville playing college basketball, Mitchell has worn the number 45 jersey in appreciation for Michael Jordan, who wore the same number during his baseball career and the early part of his NBA comeback in 1995.

Mitchell put up his most points in a game against the Chicago Bulls on January 2, 2023, with 71 points. Holding the record for the highest single-game score among active players, he helped the Cavs rally from 21 points down to a 145-135 overtime win. Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff called it “one of the greatest performances in the history of the NBA”. 

Mitchell posted a 36.5-inch no-step vertical at the NBA Combine in 207, a vertical jump of 40.5 inches, which is considered a very high jump.

Although they share the same initials and last name and both play in the NBA, Donovan Mitchell and Davion Mitchell are not brothers. Davion plays for the Sacramento Kings.