Scrambled because of the coronavirus, Rudi Gobert and Donovan Mitchell would be on the road to reconciliation, assures an executive of their franchise, the Utah Jazz.
Utah’s French pivot Rudy Gobert and teammate Donovan Mitchell, scrambled after contracting the coronavirus, the latter blaming the former for his “recklessness,” “are ready to move forward,” jazz executive vice president Dennis Lindsey said Tuesday.
“They are ready to leave (this story) behind, to move forward, to act professionally (…) We are very pleased with the collective strength of our group, Donovan and Rudy in particular. We look forward to moving forward,” Lindsey said on a conference call with the press.
“No fighting,” according to Gobert
According to the salt Lake City team leader, the path to reconciliation between the two Utah stars seems to be opening up a little more. Three weeks ago, following an article in The Athletic claiming that Mitchell was reluctant to repair their relationship with the Jazz, a source even believing that the situation “seemed unrecoverable”, Gobert had assured that there was “no fighting” between them and that they had just returned to talk for the first time since March 11.
That night, the Frenchman had been the first NBA player tested positive for coronavirus, forcing Adam Silver, the body’s boss, to immediately suspend the season until further notice. Immediately a video had surfaced showing him three days earlier touching microphones and recorders, to joke, at a press conference.
On March 12, Mitchell in turn contracted the virus and later confided in an interview that it had taken him “a while to calm down”, referring to the levity, even carelessness, with which Gobert had acted, even though Gobert had publicly apologized for it.
In his April 13 interview, the 27-year-old Frenchman said he and Mitchell remained on the same page. “It’s not about not being professional. Relationships between people are all different, it’s never perfect. But in the end, we both want the same thing: to win. We are adults and we will do whatever it takes to get there,” he said.
