Donovan Mitchell Plays Just Second Game In Utah Since Trade
Mar 23, 2025, 4:51 PM | Updated: 4:53 pm
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) looks down the court at his teammates during an NBA game against the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Tess Crowley, Deseret News)
(Photo courtesy of Tess Crowley, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – As the Utah Jazz hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Donovan Mitchell played just his second game in downtown Salt Lake since getting traded nearly 2.5 years ago.
In a 120-91 Cleveland win, the All-Star guard posted 16 points, four assists, and two steals.
SPIDA starts us off in SLC!@spidadmitchell | #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/Jjd4anhVRm
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) March 23, 2025
Donovan Mitchell Returns To Utah, Leaves With Win
Mitchell’s shooting splits and overall stats don’t jump off the page. However, it is worth noting that no Cavalier player’s numbers really did.
Jarrett Allen was the team’s leading scorer with 18. Six players reached double figures for Cleveland.
With all of that said, it was a stark difference from Mitchell’s debut against the Jazz.
46 points for @spidadmitchell in his return to Utah 🔥 pic.twitter.com/IVn2mnqe2i
— NBA (@NBA) January 11, 2023
But, a win is a win. And the Cavs have done a lot of that this year.
Currently, Cleveland sits atop the Eastern Conference with a comfortable cushion. If it weren’t for a recent four-game losing streak, they would still hold the best record in the entire NBA.
Since departing from Utah, Mitchell was named an All-Star, scored 71 points in a game, was named to the All-NBA second team, took Cleveland to the playoffs, was named an All-Star and led his team to the playoffs again, and is on track to do it all over again in 2025.
However, now that the young Cavaliers team has had a chance to grow together and endure some hardship as a group, they are more of a contending threat than ever before.
Past champions to lose 4+ in a row in February/March:
2023 Nuggets ✅
2022 Warriors ✅
2021 Bucks ✅Message to Cavs fans – you’ll be fine#LetEmKnow
— Chandler Holt (@CHoltSports) March 23, 2025
Donovan Mitchell Helps Cavaliers End Losing Streak In Utah
The Utah Jazz made it interesting at certain points but were ultimately no match for the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers at Delta Center on Sunday.
With the loss, Utah is now 1-3 on its homestand and has lost 11 of its last 12 games. Meanwhile, the Cavs ended their four-game losing streak and strengthened their chokehold on the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Kyle Filipowski led the way for Utah with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Johnny Juzang was the next leading scorer with 12 and three other Jazzmen reached double figures.
The main culprit for the loss was the turnover discrepancy. Utah gave the ball away 18 times which led to 25 Cavalier points.
This was the second and final matchup between Utah and Cleveland. The Cavaliers hosted the Jazz on December 23 and won 124-113.
The Jazz will close their homestand with games against Memphis and Houston on Tuesday and Thursday.
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Tonight’s game against the Cavaliers is being televised on KJZZ, streamed on SEG+, and heard on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone.
Find KSLSports.com coverage of the Jazz here.
