Tony Mitchell (born August 7, 1989) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He played college basketball for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

High school career

As a junior at Swainsboro High School, Mitchell averaged 19 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots. For his effort, he was named the 2007 Georgia Sports Writers Association Class AA Player of the Year and was voted all-state. He averaged 27 points, eight rebounds and five assists per game his senior year and lead his team to a 2008 regional title. Coming out of high school, Mitchell was rated as a four-star prospect and the #10 overall

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger ...

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

and a four-star player and the #8 overall small forward by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

College career

In June 2007, Mitchell committed to then head coach

Mark Gottfried Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Cal State Northridge Matadors Gottfried played one season at Oral Roberts and three se ...

and the

over the University of South Carolina and the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

. His enrollment with Alabama was delayed, however, due to academic issues and he was unable to join the team for the 2008–09 season. He instead played one season with Central Park Christian, a preparatory school in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. At Central Park, Mitchell led the team to a 25–0 record and a National Christian Education Basketball Tournament title. Despite Coach Gottfried being relieved of his duties at Alabama in January 2009, Mitchell maintained his commitment and joined the team and new coach Anthony Grant for the 2009–10 season. As a freshman, Mitchell averaged over 23 minutes per game and made 18 starts for the (17–15) Crimson Tide. In just his second game, he scored 23 points on 10-14 shooting against Jackson State. On the season, he averaged 9.2 points and 5.9 rebounds and recorded three double-doubles including a 10-point, 12-rebound effort against

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

in the SEC Tournament. He was named as an SEC Freshman of the Week, Alabama's Most Outstanding Freshman and a member of the SEC All-Freshman Team. In his sophomore season for the 2010–11 team, Mitchell led the team in scoring, rebounds, steals and minutes played. On February 21, he was named the SEC Player of the Week after he averaged 20 points and 6.5 rebounds in wins at

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

and over

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

. Against Arkansas, Mitchell scored a career-high 27 points on 11 of 15 shooting. He was second team All-SEC. After being suspended for conduct detrimental to the team, he was granted his release from the

2011–12 Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team The 2011–12 Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team (variously "Alabama", "UA", "Bama" or " The Tide") represented the University of Alabama in the 2011–12 college basketball season. The team's head coach was Anthony Grant, in his third ...

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Asso ...

, Mitchell joined the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

for the 2012 NBA Summer League. In November 2012, he was acquired by the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and are affiliated with the Indiana Pacers. The team plays their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The Mad ...

. In March 2013, he won the 2013 D-League Dream Factory Dunk Contest. On April 16, 2013, he was named the 2013 NBA D-League Rookie of the Year. He was a two-time NBA D-League Performer of the Week and March’s NBA D-League Co-Player of the Month. In May 2013, he joined the

Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters The TNT (cellular service), TNT Tropang Giga is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Associat ...

for the 2013 Commissioner's Cup. In July 2013, he joined the Boston Celtics for the

Orlando Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

and the New York Knicks for the Las Vegas Summer League. In October 2013, he signed with the

Jilin Northeast Tigers The Jilin Northeast Tigers () or Jilin Tonggang, Jilin Tonggang Northeast Tigers () or Jiutai Rural Commercial Bank are a professional basketball team based in Changchun, Jilin, China, which plays in the North Division of the Chinese Basketball ...

of China for the 2013–14 season. In December 2013, he left Jilin after 11 games. On January 8, 2014, he was re-acquired by the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. On March 4, 2014, he signed a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks. On March 14, 2014, he was not offered a second 10-day contract by the Bucks. Two days later, he was re-acquired by the Mad Ants. He went on to help the Mad Ants win the 2014 NBA D-League championship. In July 2014, he joined the NBA D-League Select Team for the

2014 NBA Summer League The 2014 NBA Summer League consists of two pro basketball leagues organized by the NBA and the Orlando Magic just after the 2014 NBA Draft. Ten teams took part in the week-long summer league at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, from July 5 t ...

. On August 18, 2014, he signed with Dolomiti Energia Trento of the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

for the 2014–15 season. After leading the league in scoring with 20.1 points per game (adding 5.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists) over 34 games, he was named Serie A MVP. On September 3, 2015, he joined Russian club Krasny Oktyabr to play in both the regional

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it ...

and continental Eurocup. On November 3, 2015, he parted ways with Krasny Oktyabr after averaging 21.4 points per game. On November 23, 2015, he signed with the Spanish club Estudiantes for the rest of the

2015–16 ACB season The 2015–16 ACB season was the 33rd season of the Spanish basketball league, also called Liga Endesa in its sponsored identity. The regular season started on October 10, 2015, and ended on May 22, 2016. The playoffs was played from May 26 to June ...

. On December 28, 2015, he parted ways with Estudiantes after appearing in six games. On January 8, 2016, he signed with the Italian club

Dinamo Sassari Polisportiva Dinamo, commonly known as Dinamo Sassari and currently known as Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Sassari, Sardinia. They are the current European Cu ...

for the rest of the season. On May 2, 2016, he parted ways with Sassari. On May 31, 2016, he signed in China with the Hebei Xianglan for the 2016 NBL season. On November 15, 2016, Mitchell signed with Israeli club Hapoel Eilat. He left Hapoel after appearing in five games. On January 20, 2017, Mitchell signed with the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Convention Centre, known colloquially as "The ...

for the rest of the

2016–17 NBL season The 2016–17 NBL season was the 39th season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between October 2016 and February 2017, followed by a pos ...

. On February 24, 2017, Mitchell was banned for the entire 2017–18 NBL season for throwing the ball at a referee after the Taipans' semi-final loss to the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

four days earlier. On May 29, 2017, Mitchell signed with the

Indios de Mayagüez The Indios de Mayagüez (Mayagüez Indians) are a baseball team in Puerto Rico's Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League, in Spanish). Based in Mayagüez, the ''Indios'' have won 18 national ...

of Puerto Rico for the rest of the 2017 BSN season. On October 12, 2017, Mitchell signed a training camp contract with the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

. He was waived on October 14 as one of the team’s final preseason roster cuts. Nine days later, he was acquired by the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team plays their home games in the Sanford Pentagon, a place they have call ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. On April 18, 2018, Mitchell signed with

Santeros de Aguada Santeros de Aguada was a Puerto Rican professional basketball team of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional. The team was based in Aguada, Puerto Rico. The team moved to Fajardo in 2021, changing their name and re-branding to Cariduros de Fajardo with ...

of the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. The Baloncesto Superior Naci ...

. However, he was released on May 18 after 10 games. On August 20, 2018, Mitchell came back to Italy and signed a deal with

Pallacanestro Cantù Pallacanestro Cantù, known for sponsorship reasons as Acqua S.Bernardo Cantù, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Cantù, Lombardy. On the European-wide club competition scene, Cantù is second to Real Madrid – again ...

of the LBA. On February 28, 2019, he has signed contract with OriOra Pistoia of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier ...

(LBA). In February 2020, Mitchell signed with AS Salé in Morocco. On October 1, 2021, Mitchell has signed with TaiwanBeer HeroBears of the

T1 League The T1 League is a Taiwanese men's professional basketball league founded in 2021. It is the third professional basketball league in Taiwan after the Chinese Basketball Alliance (CBA) and the P. League+ (PLG). In the 2022–23 season, the T ...

References

External links