Why Donovan Mitchell’s most recent trip back to SLC was particularly special
Former Utah Jazz star showed his fiancée, Coco Jones, some of his old haunts when the Cavs came to town this week.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) advances the ball up court during game against the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 30, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News This article was first published as the Jazz Insiders newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Friday.
Even after being gone for almost four years, Donovan Mitchell still gets in his feels when the Cleveland Cavaliers make their lone annual trip to Utah. Having spent the first five years of his NBA career with the Utah Jazz, he still feels a sentimental attachment to Salt Lake City, to the Jazz, to the fans and to everyone in between. And since the Eastern Conference Cavs only travel to Utah once a year, it kind of heightens the emotions and has Mitchell circling the trip on the NBA calendar.
This year, in particular, was really special for Mitchell, because he was able to bring his fiancée, singer Coco Jones, on the trip. “Me and my fiancée went to dinner with a bunch of my friends who were here, and family, and it was her first time here, so I was kind of showing her where things were at,” Mitchell said on Monday night after the Jazz played the Cavaliers. “I’m like, ‘This is what this was, and this was my first apartment,’ all those different things.
” Mitchell and Jones have been together for a few years, but Mitchell popped the question last summer , so this was his first visit to Utah since preparing to tie the knot. After next season, Mitchell will have spent just as much time away from the Jazz as he did with the Jazz. But he doesn’t think that he’ll ever stop feeling tied to Utah and stop having affection for the place where his NBA career began.