SALT LAKE CITY — There will be no suspense for the Utah Jazz heading into Game 2 of their series vs. Memphis: Donovan Mitchell will play, or at least he will be available to play.
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The team announced on Twitter Monday that the All-Star guard is "available" to return to the court for the first time since spraining his ankle on April 16.
Mitchell was kept out of Sunday's Game 1 loss and was reportedly upset about the team's actions. While Mitchell said he felt fine the morning of the game, the team announced hours before tip-off that he would not play.
"I felt like I should have played. To be honest, it's not a secret, you all know that," said Mitchell in a post-practice media session Monday. "And at the end of the day, the experts said no. We can disagree on those things, but that was the frustration."
Donovan is available to play in Game 2.
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) May 24, 2021
For Mitchell, it appears the anger went beyond simply being told he couldn't play.
"It was unfair to my team. I felt like I let them down in a sense, when you're not there for them in playoff game," said Mitchell. "That probably hurts me more than anything else."
"I barely slept because you think about that stuff."
Now that he's set to return after nearly five weeks out of action, Mitchell said he and the team are focused about what's ahead, and not the controversy over his Game 1 absence.
"The biggest thing for us is moving forward. We lost Game 1 and we got ____ to handle," said Mitchell.
