Donovan Mitchell has popped up to practice batting with the Mets at the Rangers Playoff Games this year and at City Field.
The NBA All-Star Guard is being honored with its first New York-based Bubblehead Giveway this weekend, just before the Knicks’ potential trade success.
Mitchell, a Westchester County product whose father, Donovan Sr., is the Mets’ senior director of player relations, will be throwing out the first pitch ahead of Hurricane Brooklyn in Connie Island on Saturday. According to the Single-A attachment, the first 2,000 fans in attendance will also receive Michelle Bobblehead.
Could his future be a similar promotional gift from Knicks? Earlier this week, it was revealed that Jazz was listening to offers for 25-year-old Mitchell, and Athletic reported that the Knicks had emerged as a “focused destination.”
The Knicks controlled 11 first-round picks over the next seven years, so they might avoid adding RJ Barrett to any deal by adding one or two possible group picks, including Quentin Grimes, OB Topin, Emmanuel Quickley, Cam. Radish, Miles McBride and Jericho Sims.
Utah bought four first-round draft picks, a pick swap and multiple players at All-Star Center Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves Trading earlier this month.
Mitchell has done well in most of his five visits to the Garden with the Jazz, including a 36-point performance to give Utah a 108-93 victory in March. He has played five games at Garden in his NBA career, averaging 25.2 points and 5.2 assists per game, 47.1 percent from the floor and 40.9 shots from the 3-point range.
“It’s fun, not just to see friends and family, to be able to do it, but also to understand that we have a job to do,” Michelle said after the March game. “I think if we could put ourselves in the right position for the playoffs by keeping the main thing, regardless of what’s around us, that’s what we’ve been focusing on all day, realizing that.”
Michelle’s former Louisville coach, Rick Petino, who also coached the Knicks from 1987-89, praised Michelle via Twitter on Thursday.
“Everyone is telling me to think about Donovan Mitchell trade rumors – all I can say is that it’s about winning and improving,” the current Iona coach tweeted. “There is a tremendous work ethic and a 10 star person on a 5 star scale.”
