For the Utah Jazz last season, Donovan Mitchell stepped in at the most important times to get his team to the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Turns out he’s now doing that off the court, too.
The brother of Jazz fan Andrew Simeona (who declined to be named for this story) visited the City Creek Apple Store in Salt Lake City to get his iPhone repaired. While he waited as the technician looked at the device, he unknowingly struck up a conversation with someone else waiting at the store: Mitchell.
Later, the Apple store technician returned and delivered some bad news: that the phone would be a relatively expensive fix, one Simeona couldn’t afford. When Mitchell overheard the story, he volunteered to pay for the service.
“He was super happy that he had the repaired phone,” Simeona said.
It was only after the transaction was completed that the Apple rep told Simeona’s brother that the man who helped him was really the Jazz star.
“Most of our family are big basketball fans. Seeing what Donovan has done, coming into the community, he just dove in,” Simeona said. “That it happened to our own brother gives a big feeling of gratitude, but I wasn’t surprised in the least.”
The story has gone viral, too, with ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and other outlets picking up the story.
Mitchell has traveled the world this summer, but is now back in Utah. He hosted his basketball camp in Draper early this week.
