It began innocuously enough, with a joke to Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday night, about him walking into the postgame interview room wearing shades.
Except they weren’t sunglasses, he said, but regular glasses with some tint. And they’re not just fashion lenses, either.
Which led to a natural follow-up question (Does he wear contact lenses during games?) and a semi-stunning response.
“Nah, I just slug it out,” Mitchell replied to laughs, before adding, “I’m actually being dead serious.”
Really?
Asked if he’d ever tried them, he replied that he did while attending Louisville. But he stopped for a pretty simple reason: “I don’t like touching my eye.” Because of that, the contacts became something of a chore.
“Even if I was able to put them in — and it took me two and a half hours to put one in — getting them out was … I’d sleep in them, [my eyes] would get irritated, it was a whole process,” Mitchell said.
When it was suggested that several other NBA players have worn prescription eyewear throughout the years, he acknowledged that several people had suggested that he “should try the goggles out.”
He maintained, however, that he wasn’t to the point yet of people needing to worry about his eyeballs, while also throwing in some self-deprecating humor on the subject.
“So for now, I’m just gonna keep guessing at which hoop I’m shooting at,” Mitchell said, laughing. “Nah, we’ll get there. Right now it seems to be alright.”
