Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell wears No. 45 for a combination of reasons:
Mitchell's primary sport as a youth was baseball.
His favorite basketball player, Michael Jordan, wore 45 while playing baseball and briefly with the Bulls in his first return to the NBA.
And ...
"Everybody wants to be 23, but everybody forgets about 45," Mitchell says. "That's been my life. No one really notices me, or everybody forgets about me. In rankings, whatever it may be in high school. So I've always felt that extra chip on my shoulder, and that's pretty much why I stick with 45."
In one respect, Mitchell has already outdone Jordan. As a rookie, Jordan finished second to Dominique Wilkins in the NBA Slam Dunk contest. Mitchell won it as a rookie this past season during All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
Mitchell returned to Southern California in late June. He attended the NBA Awards show where he was runnerup to Ben Simmons for rookie of the year, and he visited the Adidas store in Santa Monica to commemorate his nickname Spida earning an entry on dictionary.com. Check out the video above for more from Mitchell, including his favorite baseball player of all time. (Partial spoiler: This player wore No. 31, not 45.)
