NBA Star Donovan Mitchell Accused of “Insulting” Chinese Fans

Just two weeks after James Harden was stopped by traffic police in Shanghai, another NBA player’s promotional tour in China is making headlines for the wrong reasons. Utah Jazz point guard Donovan Mitchell has been accused of “insulting” Chinese fans after apparently refusing to sign some autographs and then posting about it to his Instagram Stories. But is the story all a hoax?

It seemed like Mitchell’s tour to Shanghai and Harbin to promote his Spider-Man-themed Adidas sneakers was going pretty smoothly — if anything, he was further enhancing the “man of the people” reputation that he’s built by always seemingly having time for fans and offering up sound advice to them on Twitter.

Yet after a post on Mitchell’s Instagram about Chinese fans’ “persistence” when it came to wanting autographs made it to the front page of sports commentary site Hupu, many are now claiming he’s been disrespectful.

The video shows Mitchell in what seems like a hotel lobby saying, “Man, I’m just out here on this couch. They just out here chillin'”, as he pans the camera around to show a group of Chinese fans a few feet away. “They been out here since, like, in the morning,” he adds.

The Story is no longer available on Mitchell’s Instagram, but there are some heartwarming shots of his China tour, like this one:

Nice right? Dig into the comments on some of his recent posts however, and things are decidedly nastier. 

“Why you take a video to sneer your fans? You will lose Chinese fans and lose the china market. You are a JOKER, your dunk like a shit. No one welcome you in china any more,” writes one apparently offended user.

“I feel so disapointed. They wait for you 8 hours because they super love you and appreciate you. Why you doing this?” posts another.

Yet some have leapt to Mitchell's defence and suggested the whole thing is fake. There are claims that the video is an old one and that the fans Mitchell refers to in it were actually waiting for autographs from Tracy McGrady (the pair were in China last year for another Adidas promo tour). 

There's been no mention of the furore on Mitchell's social media as of yet, including on his official Weibo, where the message displayed at the top of his page reads: “Great time in China!”, followed by (in Chinese) “I miss you, China!”

Mitchell may be back sooner rather than later to see just how much the fans have missed him - if he makes the cut for the USA men's team, the FIBA Basketball World Cup begins in China at the end of August.

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