Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell met with a specialist Tuesday to discuss ongoing concussion symptoms, league sources confirmed to the Deseret News.
Mitchell initially sustained a head injury just before halftime on Jan. 17 against the Los Angeles Lakers, but felt good enough to finish that game. It wasn’t until later that night that Mitchell started to exhibit signs of a concussion.
Since then he’s been in the NBA’s concussion protocol which requires a player to be symptom-free following a number of different tests and drills.
On Friday, a team spokesperson told reporters that Mitchell had played 3-on-3 basketball the day before, had cleared the concussion protocol, and was in a reconditioning phase. That however turned out to be a miscommunication between the training/medical staff and the spokesperson. Mitchell has not yet cleared the NBA’s concussion protocol and continues to experience symptoms.
Those symptoms, no matter how minor, are something that the Jazz and Mitchell are both taking very seriously. The Jazz have always erred on the side of caution and been conservative when it comes to injuries and returning from them, and a head injury is not something to take lightly.
Mitchell seeking information or treatment from a specialist in addition to the treatment and monitoring he receives from the Jazz’s medical and training staff has been supported and encouraged by everyone within the Jazz organization.
Mitchell did not go through shootaround on Wednesday morning ahead of the Jazz’s home game against the Denver Nuggets and will miss an eighth consecutive game Wednesday night as he remains in the NBA’s concussion protocol.
After the initial injury, Mitchell did not travel on a two-game trip with the Jazz to Golden State and Phoenix.
Following that trip, Jazz general manager Justin Zanik met with local reporters and said that a return against Memphis (Friday) or Minnesota (Sunday) seemed likely. Mitchell, traveled to both cities with the Jazz but continued to experience concussion-like symptoms and has remained sidelined.