A mural of Donovan Mitchell has been adorning a wall adjoined to a pedestrian bridge at the The Gateway shopping mall for more than 3 years now.
On Thursday morning, it started to come down.
Workers erected scaffolding along the bridge and began power-spraying off the image of the three-time All-Star, who was traded by the Utah Jazz to the Cleveland Cavaliers this past September.
It’s just the latest symbol of a franchise, a city, a state, and a fanbase continuing the process of moving on.
Back on March 26, 2019, a ceremony was held at the 100 S. Rio Grande Street corner of The Gateway — a mere two blocks from the front entrance to Vivint Arena, where the Jazz play — in which a bridge was named after him, and the graffiti-style mural (commissioned by both The Gateway and the Jazz) was unveiled.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Donovan Mitchell snaps a photo of his mural before the dedication of the Donovan Mitchell Bridge at the Gateway in Downtown Salt Lake, Tuesday, March 26, 2019.
“This is incredible, to be able to have a bridge dedicated in my honor. It’s humbling, knowing where I came from,” Mitchell said at the time. “I didn’t expect to be in the NBA, let alone win the dunk contest, let alone make the playoffs, let alone be where we are today in our playoff position … and have a bridge named after me. I still can’t comprehend that.”
The bridge and wall won’t be bare for long, though. As for what will take the place of the Mitchell mural …
“We’re not ready to announce that yet. We have a fun thing that we’ll be doing,” said Jacklyn Briggs, regional marketing director at Vestar, the Arizona-based company which owns The Gateway. “We’ll make announcements for that shortly. We’re finalizing the last pieces of it.”
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