During his appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio Wednesday, former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino revealed that he tried to implore the New York Knicks to use their eighth pick in the 2017 NBA Draft on Donovan Mitchell. The Knicks, under then-president of basketball operations Phil Jackson, ultimately decided against using such a high lottery pick on Mitchell, and selected Frank Ntilikina instead.
The Utah Jazz landed Mitchell in a trade with the Denver Nuggets, who took him at 13th overall. Mitchell averaged 20.5 points in his first season with the Jazz, which earned him NBA All-Rookie First Team honors, and finished in second behind Ben Simmons for Rookie of the Year.
In their third season in the league, Mitchell has turned into a cornerstone player for the Jazz, and is now considered a steal looking back at the 2017 Draft. Meanwhile, Ntilikina has turned into a reliable defender, even though he continues to be a developing project for the Knicks.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and hearing Pitino hype up one of his former Louisville players to a team he once coached prior to the draft shouldn't come as a shock.
