Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell wasn’t even born for another two years after Michael Jordan played minor league baseball in 1994, but he’s long said the reason he wears No. 45 on the hardwood is because that’s the number Jordan wore on the field.
Mitchell, whose father also played in the minors and now works in the New York Mets organization, was a talented baseball player in his own right before deciding to focus on basketball when he was in high school, so it came as no surprise he shared some thoughts via Twitter Sunday night during the seventh episode of “The Last Dance” documentary, which focused a good deal of time on Jordan’s baseball stint.
“Would’ve loved to watch MJ practice and play baseball!,” Mitchell tweeted during the episode.
A few minutes later as the episode delved into how Jordan had his fair share of struggles playing baseball, Mitchell tweeted, “People forget ‘failing’ 6-7 out of 10 times is elite in baseball.”
Just before the episode began, Bleacher Report posted a tweet imagining if a few pro athletes played at the highest level in different sports, and it Photoshopped Mitchell in a Mets uniform.
Mitchell quote tweeted it with just the word “Imagine” and the eyes emoji.
As detailed in the eighth episode of the documentary Sunday, Jordan initially wore No. 45 when he returned to the NBA in 1995, but quickly changed back to his regular No. 23.