CLEVELAND, Ohio — Donovan Mitchell knows exactly where he wants to be when his NBA career ends. Not in a professional huddle, not roaming the sideline of a college program, but in the kind of gym where kids chase dreams that are still raw and unshaped.
He wants to coach high school kids.
It is not an accident that Mitchell’s vision points him home to Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut, where he graduated in 2012 after finishing ninth grade. That was the place that gave him structure, opportunity and a stage to grow. It’s also the place he’s already transformed.
“I think it would be unbelievable to have him back here as a coach,” Adam Rohdie, head of school at GCDS, told cleveland.com in an exclusive interview. “Not just because of the basketball knowledge that he would bring, but he is one of the finest human beings you’ll ever meet. I couldn’t think of a better person to stand up in front of young children as a model of what a great adult looks like.”
In 2020, Mitchell’s family donated $12 million to GCDS, the largest single pledge of support to the school in the history of the institution. And he’s continued to give back to his alma mater to create scholarships for students, grants for faculty (the Mitchell Family Faculty Excellence in Teaching grant) and a new athletic center.
It’s the kind of life-changing investment that ensured kids from all walks of life could have access to education.
“What we’re doing with Country Day is being able to bring kids from the inner city, Black and Brown kids, and bring them to a situation where it’s a private school, scholarship is paid, and they see a whole different side of life that I got to see when I was younger and opened my eyes at the age of 10,” Mitchell said after a recent camp at John F. Kennedy High School.
“The financial aid that they’ve been able to provide through the scholarship has changed the lives of a number of children and it will live on in perpetuity,” Rohdie added. “It’s allowed us to make this school available to a wider swath of children than we might have been able to without his gifts. He’s impacting the world. He’s making the world a better place through his philanthropy.”
In late October 2024, Mitchell’s imprint on the school became permanent.
The doors opened on a new athletic center, nicknamed The DON in honor of Mitchell’s commitment and promise to its completion.
Inside is a gleaming NCAA-sized basketball court that can split into two high school gyms, an instant home for the kind of development Mitchell wants to nurture when his playing career winds down.
His No. 45 jersey now hangs there on the side wall, not only as a tribute to what he achieved, but also as a reminder of what’s possible for those who come after.
Some of Mitchell’s Cavs family was in attendance for the unveiling, including head coach Kenny Atkinson.
“He’s a great example for all of us,” Atkinson said. “Not only the other players but for the coaches. I’ve said this before, whatever community event we do or anything extra when we’re on the road, I observe him and he’s always very generous with his time, very polite, courteous, kind and I think that kind of supports our culture and builds our culture. … It’s great when your leader is a really, really kind of an upstanding guy all around in every sense.
“I could see him coaching like a high school, just giving back, being in Greenwich and coaching Greenwich [Country] Day. He just loves the game. He likes being around kids and I’ve said this all year, he’s helped me a lot.”
And while the name pays homage to Mitchell, it also means more. It’s an acronym that’s short for Determination Over Negativity.
“I feel like my NBA journey is the epitome of it,” Mitchell said of the acronym. “I’ve accomplished so much, but yet you’re still looked at as not that. There’s always going to be something. … There’s always gonna be negativity in front of you, every way, shape, or form. And I’m grateful because it’s just something that I live my life by.
“That’s not just basketball. That’s life. There’s gonna be days where I don’t want to get up. You don’t want to get up and go to work. You’re tired, you’ve missed the late assignment, your boss is annoying.
“There’s always some hurdle in life, but it’s like, how can I find a way to continue to push through? … And I think for me, just using that determination over negativity, there’s always going to be something. How do I find a way to run through it, walk around it, get around it, and get to the next point?”
That perspective began at a young age, a moment in childhood when he first realized how differently the world viewed him.
Mitchell says that being Black, being Panamanian — being seen before he could even define himself — gave him a sensitivity that still drives him today. He remembers how badly he needed people to believe in him.
And one of those people was his mom. His mother, Nicole, taught pre-kindergarten at GCDS for 13 years and now serves on the school’s board of trustees. She instilled in Mitchell the idea that academics were as vital as athletics, that knowledge was the anchor he could carry anywhere in life.
Mitchell has never forgotten it. That’s why he feels so strongly about being the one to believe in the next generation.
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This summer, he hosted camps all over the world from Cleveland to Panama.
Unlike many pros who stick to the sidelines, Mitchell laced up and jumped into full 5-on-5 games.
For him, it’s about modeling the intensity, focus and skill that it takes to reach the next level. He wanted the kids to feel the difference, and let them make the decision if they’re capable or determined enough to meet him where he is.
“If I could just impact one child at this camp, that’s what it’s all about. In 30 years, that’s what my legacy is going to be,” Mitchell said.
“But also, it shows them, like, ‘Hey, there’s so much more to life than just the game of basketball,’ which is a message that I always speak.”
Mitchell could chase a future in the NBA or NCAA coaching ranks. His résumé, his name, his network would open doors. But that’s not what he wants. He has seen his greatest impact not in the pros, but in the moments that happen at the grassroots level.
In the scholarships he’s built. In his own camps where student athletes experience firsthand the gap between where they are and what’s possible.
This past Saturday, Mitchell found himself back at Louisville, his college home, not just watching and giving a speech but laced up and in a red-and-white practice jersey, tongue wagging, chasing after loose balls and teaching the best way he knows how.
All of these moments connect to the same core idea: Mitchell doesn’t want to simply be remembered for the points he scored or the All-Star Games he played in. He wants to be remembered for the lives he changed.
When his NBA career ends, Donovan Mitchell will step into a high school gym, whistle around his neck, ready to coach. And when he does, it won’t feel like a new beginning. It will feel like a continuation of promises kept, of doors opened, of a legacy that was always bigger than basketball.
Would Mitchell rather be remembered as a six-time NBA All-Star, or Coach Mitchell?
“Selfishly both,” Mitchell said with a chuckle. “This game is going to always go [on] even though I’m not here, but it’s life. … I think that Coach Donovan will be able to impact a lot more lives individually.
“But like I said, I would like both. But I’m starting to understand the impact you can really have in this life outside of just playing.”