- This is a million dollars for real?
what's up GQ sports.
I'm Donovan Mitchell,
and this is how I spent my first million.
Originally from Westchester, New York.
But I live in Greenwich, Connecticut now.
That's where I went to school.
Right where we're at right now
with the Greenwich country day school
from third grade to ninth grade.
Grew up playing baseball,
stopped in about tenth grade
and started taking up basketball.
And you know,
the next thing you knew I was playing at Louisville.
And after two years,
I tried to test the waters as they say for, for the NBA.
And I was thankfully drafted 13,
and now here we are.
The NBA was definitely the, the ultimate goal.
But for me it was like, okay, how do I, you know,
get to college? Then it became really reality.
Like I could really do this.
And, you know throughout the process,
that's when it became like all right,
like this is, this is what I want to do,
take care of my family and make sure
that they don't have to work a day in their life
and make sure they're all set.
My mom, my sister and my dad.
So you signed the contract and then your advance.
I think that's when you're like, whoa, you know.
Because you're, you're getting money from, you know,
when you're doing the process, you have endorsement deals,
you have like cards you signed.
So you're getting money off of that.
But you know, when your first paycheck hits,
it's like, whoa, like, you know, this is my job.
This is what I do.
You can see the details of
my first rookie contract right here.
Fortunately after my third year,
you can get extended in your contract.
And I was able to fortunately get an extension
for five years and was supposed to be 205,
but someone didn't make all NBA,
however that may have happened.
So you know you've lost some,
but you know, no one's complaining,
I'm still blessed and still able to be able to provide
for my family and give back to my mom and sister.
So I'm okay.
You can see the details of my extension right here.
So you guys heard about how I made my first million dollars.
Now you guys going to hear about
how I spent my first million dollars.
First thing I bought was my mama car
and I got her a nice Audi that she'd always wanted.
So that was about 50.
It was something that I told her, I wasn't going to get her.
Cause she was like, I would love to get this car.
You know, I was like, yeah, maybe in like five years,
six years, you know, once I heard that, I was like, okay,
I'm going to get in the works of
trying to find a way to get this car for her.
We had a home stand.
I was here in New York for like five days
and I drove up here and brought the car.
Actually I gave it to her here at the school
and pulled up while she was working
and walked her out and she was able to get it.
So that was pretty special for me.
The next thing I got was myself a car,
and that was a Porsche Panamera.
That was probably about 90 right there.
When I was working out, I'd seen it in LA
and I was like, man, that car looks dope. You know?
And then I got it with the all black, red interior,
some red rims, and also red's my favorite color
so that was something for me that,
you know, I was like, man,
I love for that to be my first car.
And I was able to get it.
And um so yeah, it was my first purchase.
My first car purchase.
The next thing, you know,
I think for me was the save some money for
my sister's college tuition, 300,000 right there.
Fortunately she was able to play lacrosse
where she's at school at now,
but I was able to get her and make sure
I have that money set aside for her.
Next purchase, I got my sister a car,
so I made sure my sister was set, that was 16.
She's always wanted a Jeep.
I was able to get her a Jeep Sahara
and I offered to trick it out for her,
but she was like, no, I want it real simple
and I was like, all right, cool.
That's something for me.
I was like wanting to make sure my family
was always set with whatever they wanted.
Just kind of spoil them a little bit
or a lot of it as much as I possibly could.
And then the fifth one, the first part is
I dropped my money down, paying on my mom's home.
The other part is also being put in money
towards my foundation.
- [Donovan] You know, that's given back through Spidacares.
It's giving back to kids in the community
giving back to just people in need.
You know, I think for me,
just kind of taking that upon myself, you know,
understanding that with the money that I make, you know,
not giving everything away, but you know, understanding,
just being able to help change people's lives in that way.
I think is, is huge for me.
250 for the foundation and 250 for the home.
This is a million dollars for real?
You know, I'm, I'm, I'm happy.
You know, I think the biggest thing for me is not only just,
you know, being able to give back,
but also saving for myself and it's not just, you know,
spending and about also keeping it for generational wealth.
You know, there are times where you, you,
you just want to enjoy, you know, the life that you have,
you know, and understanding that there's times for that too.
No, but there's also times to continue to be smart,
you know, because this can go away real quick.
If you, if you allow it to and the tips, I would say, man,
is understanding that, you know,
whatever you make, like take all this and cut it in half,
just from taxes alone.
And then you have so many other different things.
Whether it's a home,
you have the mortgage or you have the cars,
you know, whatever it may be.
But understanding that when you buy things or get things,
understand, you got to get things that over time,
appreciate it over time, you know,
increase in value because money is great
but it definitely goes away quickly if you allow it to
and you continue to spend.
Whether it's like, you know,
having equity and deals such as body armor now,
Adidas, Stance Socks.
Like for example, I use body armor just because
they're a company that matches, you know,
who I am, my hunger, my passion, my drive,
an innovative company.
I think for myself,
you know, continuing to strive for greatness,
each thing that we do continue to strive
to be the best it matches who I am,
who Donovan Mitchell is as a brand
and I'm passionate behind it.
I think for all athletes and for all people in general,
being able to invest in which one you believe in
what you're passionate about,
but also a brand that's definitely successful
because it's great to invest what you believe in,
but you know, if they're not successful,
then you know, money's down the drain
and body armor has been, you know, successful
even before Donovan Mitchell came on board.
And you know, that was definitely something for me
that I wanted to be a part of
and I'm blessed to be part of the body armor family
and continue to work with them for many more years.
All right guys, it's Donna Mitchell here.
I just want to say thank you guys for seeing
how I spent my first million and we'll see you guys again.
Appreciate it.