Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell was not wearing his normal No. 45 jersey at practice Saturday. Instead, Mitchell wore No. 22 to pay tribute to Utah Utes football players Aaron Lowe and Ty Jordan.
"I wanted to pay my respects," Mitchell, entering his fifth season with the Jazz, said after the practice, reported by the Salt Lake Tribune. "... I'm not gonna switch my number, it's just that the Utes and all of Utah have paid their respects, to not just Aaron but Ty as well. I just wanted to pay my respects in my own way. That was the premise of it."
Lowe, who was 21, was fatally shot early on the morning of Sept. 26 in Salt Lake City. That came less than a year after Jordan, a teammate and friend of Lowe's, was killed in an accidental shooting in December. Salt Lake City police are investigating Lowe's shooting as a homicide.
In his third season as a defensive back at Utah, Lowe had played in the Utes' first four games. He was the first recipient of Utah's Ty Jordan Memorial Scholarship. Lowe and Jordan, both from Mesquite, Texas, were high school teammates. When Jordan died, Lowe switched his number from No. 2 to No. 22.
"Aaron was a great teammate, friend, brother and son and was loved by anyone who crossed paths with him," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a statement last week. "He will be deeply missed."
