Utah Jazz second year players Donovan Mitchell and Royce O’Neale were recently spotted working out with Houston’s Chris Paul and James Harden.
After watching the second-round playoff series between the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets, you’d probably guess that there wasn’t much love between the two teams. Although the Jazz stole an exhilarating Game 2 on the road in Houston, other than that things didn’t exactly go their way.
They were obliterated in both home contests and frustrations boiled over on several occasions, particularly on the side of the outmatched Jazz. In fact, at one point following Utah’s Game 4 loss, Donovan Mitchell was caught on tape expressing obvious dissatisfaction with James Harden.
In a NSFW rant, he stated, “So that’s what he needs to win the ****ing MVP?”
Mitchell’s rant was obviously referring to Harden’s notorious tendency to flop and flail to draw numerous fouls per contest. Based on that one statement and reaction alone, it would have been easy to assume that perhaps Mitchell and Harden weren’t exactly on the best of terms. Not only that, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that there was some bad blood between the Jazz and Rockets.
However, it’s been known for a while that Donovan Mitchell and Chris Paul are friends, and they were even spotted chatting with one another in their post-game attire following Utah’s Game 5 loss last postseason. And on that note, it turns out that despite the teams’ rivalry on the court, there may actually be some significant friendships there during the offseason.
That assumption comes from a video that recently surfaced that showed Harden, Paul, Mitchell and Royce O’Neale all working out with one another, taking turns getting up shots and defending one another.
You can check it out yourself via the video below courtesy of House of Highlights–
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmmQDX6hypJ/?taken-by=houseofhighlights
The clips shown were all offensive victories, but it would be thrilling to see the entire workout. Mitchell and O’Neale obviously have some work to do in order to transform into wing stoppers who can hold the likes of Harden and Paul in check consistently, but I truly believe they’re capable of getting there.
In the meantime, it’s pretty awesome that they’re getting the chance to spend the offseason working out with two legendary talents in Paul and Harden. Regardless of what you think about their careers or frequent antics, both are incredible players that could teach the young Jazzmen a thing or two. Hopefully they’ll only pick up on the positive traits and not the egregious flops both are known for.
But more importantly, this is just yet another reminder that the Jazz are on the map. It’s not everyday that members of the small market Jazz find themselves working out with NBA stars, so this is cool to see.
And maybe, just maybe, Donovan and Royce will pick up enough tricks from this and other offseason work that if they face Houston in the playoffs a second time, the result between this pair of “rival-friends” will turn out differently.