The Utah Jazz announced today that they have exercised their third-year team option on guard Donovan Mitchell for the 2019-20 season. Per team policy, financial terms were not released.
Mitchell (6-3, 215, Louisville) led all rookies last season in scoring at 20.5 points per game and total points (1,616), joining David Robinson (1989-90), Larry Bird (1979-80), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969-70) and Wilt Chamberlain (1959-60) as one of the last five rookies, and only guard, to lead their team in scoring while their squad won 45-or-more games. During the 2017-18 season, Mitchell was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month four times (December, January, February and March/April), also setting an NBA rookie record for three-pointers made in a single season (187). Following last year’s campaign, Mitchell was unanimously named to the 2017-18 NBA All-Rookie First Team and was dubbed the Breakthrough Athlete of the Year at the 2018 ESPY Awards.
The 2018 NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner averaged 24.4 points over 11 postseason games, becoming the first rookie to average over 20 points in the postseason since Tim Duncan in 1998. He set a Jazz playoff rookie scoring record with 33 points against Oklahoma City on April 23, passing Karl Malone who had 31 points on April 20, 1986 against Dallas and then broke his own rookie record with a 38-point performance against the Thunder on April 27 in Game 6, helping Utah advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.
The team will tip off its 45th NBA campaign at Sacramento on Wednesday, Oct. 17, with the team’s home opener coming on Friday, October 19 against the Golden State Warriors at Vivint Smart Home Arena.