Mitchell recalls Jazz getting drunk in locker room on night of NBA shutdown

Donovan Mitchell offered some insight into the feeling in the Utah Jazz locker room the night Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, leading to the NBA shutdown.

Mitchell spoke about the night on the latest episode of "The Old Man and The Three" podcast, recalling how the Jazz were stuck in the locker room for nine hours after the league postponed their March 11, 2020, game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"I wouldn't say it was panic in the locker room. It was just like, what can we do? We're just here," Mitchell said. "Shout out to (Chris Paul), sent 15 bottles of wine that night. So we had food and then we (had) wine.

"We got drunk. I'm not gonna lie to you, we got drunk. Cause we're just like, alright, so there's definitely no game. We're not playing for a while, and you're in a moment where everybody's calling. Everybody's calling. We're on FaceTime with everybody. Anybody you can think of is calling everybody in this locker room. And we're sitting there like, we just don't know what's gonna happen. We're trying to drink to not be scared, like you know what I mean? One of those moments where you're helpless."

Mitchell, who's now a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, said a man wearing a hazmat suit eventually drove the Jazz to a hotel. Mitchell tried to find someone to send a private plane to take the players back to Utah but had no luck.

"I'll never forget that night," he said. "I have pictures on my phone from that night that I'll probably frame up in my house at some point in time and tell my kids like, 'This is one of the biggest moments in sports, in history of the country.'"