Jazz star Donovan Mitchell hopes his coronavirus case can help educate public

Donovan Mitchell is in isolation, confined to his home, mostly playing his basketball on his television through video games to occupy his time after testing positive for the coronavirus.

While he is frustrated that he was exposed to and afflicted with the virus, in an interview on “Good Morning America,” he expressed hope that his high-profile case can help educate others. While much remains unknown and the warnings about symptoms have been pushed out to the public, Mitchell has never displayed any symptoms associated with the virus but tested positive anyway.

“So right now the biggest thing is for me to stay in isolation and just keep to myself,” he said. “I have no symptoms, which is a unique situation.

“I keep making the joke when people ask me, if you were to tell me I could play in a seven-game series tomorrow, I would be ready to lace up. Like I said, I’m really blessed that that’s the case.”

After Rudy Gobert became the first NBA player to test positive, the entire Utah Jazz team and staff were tested and Mitchell was found to have COVID-19. Some other teams who faced Utah have tested their players, including the Detroit Pistons, who had one player, Christian Wood, test positive. The Knicks, who played both the Jazz and Pistons in the final week before the NBA suspended the season, are not believed to have tested their players because no symptoms have been shown — despite what Mitchell said.

“I’m asymptomatic,” he said. “I don’t have any symptoms. I could walk down the street. If it wasn’t public knowledge that I was sick, you wouldn’t know it. I think that’s the scariest part about this virus. You may seem fine, be fine, and you never know who you may be talking to, who they’re going home to.”

It has been reported that some of Gobert’s teammates were upset with how carelessly he behaved before learning he had tested positive. Mitchell said he has not spoken with him.

“To be honest with you, it took a while for me to kind of cool off,” Mitchell said. “I read what he said, heard what he said, I’m glad he’s doing OK. I’m glad I’m doing well. I’m just really happy, to be honest, I hate to say there’s two of us, but like it wasn’t the whole party. At the end of the day, neither him or I have children at home. I know I have some teammates that have children, staff that have children at home, so I’m glad that we were able to contain it as much as possible.”

Mitchell, a Westchester native, was relieved to find out that his father, Donovan Mitchell Sr., who works for the Mets in player relations and community engagement, tested negative for the virus.

Although he is isolated, Mitchell still has tried to do some good, working to ensure that children in Salt Lake City will be properly fed while schools are closed.

“Right now I’m working on a partnership with the Salt Lake City Granite school district, 88 to 90 schools, about 66,000 kids, just being able to provide them meals,” he said. “That particular school district is home to some of the most vulnerable children in Salt Lake. I want to be able to give back. Because this is, like I said, time will tell, you really don’t know. You can’t say. Doctors can’t pinpoint a date. So for parents who may not have the money, being able to not send their kids off to school to get food I think is a scary feeling for them. I want to be able to make sure they’re set, that they understand that guys like myself and whoever may have their back.

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.