Davion De'Monte Earl Mitchell (born September 5, 1998) 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 for 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 ...
of the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...
(NBA). He played
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
for the Auburn Tigers and the Baylor Bears. He was taken ninth overall in the
2021 NBA draft
The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NB ...
by the Kings.
High school career
Mitchell attended
Liberty County High School
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society f ...
in
Hinesville, Georgia
Hinesville is a city in Liberty County, Georgia, United States, located on the Atlantic coastal plain. The population was 33,437 at the 2010 census and an estimated 33,273 in 2019. The city is the county seat of Liberty County. It is the princi ...
. As a junior, he averaged 24.2 points, 7.1 assists and 2.9 steals per game, leading his team to its first Class 4A state title. Mitchell was named ''
Savannah Morning News
The ''Savannah Morning News'' is a daily newspaper in Savannah, Georgia. It is published by Gannett. The motto of the paper is "Light of the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry". The paper serves Savannah, its metropolitan area, and parts of South C ...
'' Player of the Year.
In his senior season, he averaged 23.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. Mitchell competed for the Georgia Stars on the
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...
circuit.
A consensus four-star
recruit, he committed to playing college basketball for
Auburn over offers from
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
,
UConn
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to t ...
and
Clemson, among others.
College career
As a freshman at Auburn, Mitchell averaged 3.7 points and 1.9 assists per game as a backup
point guard to
Jared Harper.
Following the season, he transferred to
Baylor and sat out his next season due to
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...
transfer rules. During his
redshirt
Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi
* Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...
year, he improved his all-around game and studied film on guards like
Kyle Lowry
Kyle Terrell Lowry (born March 25, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been a six-time NBA All-Star and was named to the All-NBA Third Team in 2016. Lowry w ...
and
Jalen Brunson
Jalen Marquis Brunson (born August 31, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Villanova University, where he was the National P ...
.
[ During his sophomore season, Mitchell was a starter on one of the top teams in the nation.] On December 18, 2019, he posted a season-high 19 points, four assists and four steals in a 91–63 win over UT Martin
The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphis ...
. As a sophomore, Mitchell averaged 9.9 points and 3.8 assists per game. He was named Big 12
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...
Newcomer of the Year, while earning Third Team All-Big 12, All-Defensive and All-Newcomer Team honors.
In his junior season, Mitchell became an improved shooter and passer. He scored a career-high 31 points and seven three-pointers in a 107–59 win over Kansas State
Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
on January 27, 2021. Mitchell helped Baylor win its first national championship, recording 15 points, six rebounds and five assists in a 86–70 win against previously undefeated Gonzaga
Gonzaga may refer to:
Places
* Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy
* Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines
*Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil
*Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily
People with the surna ...
in the title game. He received the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award
The Naismith College Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual basketball award given to the most outstanding defensive player in men's and women's college basketball. It has been awarded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club since 2018. It is named in ...
, NABC Defensive Player of the Year
The NABC Defensive Player of the Year is an award given annually by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to recognize the top defensive player in United States college basketball. The award has been given since 1987 and was previously kn ...
and the Lefty Driesell Award as the top defensive player in the nation. Mitchell earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Big 12 honors. On April 13, he declared for the 2021 NBA draft
The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NB ...
, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.
Professional career
Sacramento Kings (2021–present)
Mitchell was selected with the ninth overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft
The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NB ...
by 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 ...
. On August 5, 2021, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Kings. Mitchell helped the Kings win the 2021 NBA Summer League
The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league cons ...
Championship and was named NBA 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 ...
MVP alongside Cam Thomas. Mitchell was also selected to the All-NBA Summer League First Team.
On October 20, Mitchell made his NBA debut, recording two points, three rebounds and three assists in a 124–121 win over the Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...
. On March 20, 2022, he scored a career-high 28 points, alongside three rebounds and nine assists, in a 127–124 overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Pacific Division (NBA), P ...
.
Career statistics
NBA
Regular season
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
, style="text-align:left;", Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, 75 , , 19 , , 27.7 , , .418 , , .316 , , .659 , , 2.2 , , 4.2 , , .7 , , .3 , , 11.5
, - class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career
, 75 , , 19 , , 27.7 , , .418 , , .316 , , .659 , , 2.2 , , 4.2 , , .7 , , .3 , , 11.5
College
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2017–18
, style="text-align:left;", Auburn
, 34 , , 0 , , 17.1 , , .429 , , .288 , , .677 , , 1.1 , , 1.9 , , .5 , , .0 , , 3.7
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2018–19
, style="text-align:left;", Baylor
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",
Redshirt
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2019–20
, style="text-align:left;", Baylor
, 30 , , 30 , , 32.4 , , .409 , , .324 , , .663 , , 2.7 , , 3.8 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , 9.9
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
, style="text-align:left;", Baylor
, 30 , , 30 , , 33.0 , , .511 , , .447 , , .652 , , 2.7 , , 5.5 , , 1.9 , , .4 , , 14.1
, - class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career
, 94 , , 60 , , 27.1 , , .459 , , .376 , , .661 , , 2.1 , , 3.6 , , 1.3 , , .2 , , 9.0
References
External links
Baylor Bears bio
Auburn Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Davion
1998 births
Living people
All-American college men's basketball players
American men's basketball players
Auburn Tigers men's basketball players
Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state)
Baylor Bears men's basketball players
People from Hinesville, Georgia
Point guards
Sacramento Kings draft picks
Sacramento Kings players