Mitchell to bring much-needed defensive toughness to young Raptors

LAS VEGAS – In an era where NBA nicknames often lack creativity and aren’t what they used to be, Davion Mitchell’s might be one of the best.

Off-Night. He inherited the moniker from some friends during his junior season in college, when the fiery point guard and Georgia native helped lead Baylor to its first National Championship and was named Defensive Player of the Year.

Mitchell would routinely guard the opposing team’s best perimeter player, generally a highly touted prospect and projected NBA draft pick. More often than not he would shut them down, or see to it that they had an off night.

“So, we just stuck with that,” said Mitchell, who wears the label as a badge of honour more than three years later. “I love it, actually.”

That’s music to the ears of the Toronto Raptors, who acquired the 25-year-old in a draft-night trade from Sacramento and could really use some of the qualities he brings to the table.

They needed a backup point guard, somebody to run the offence when Immanuel Quickley and Scottie Barnes aren’t on the floor, but also somebody who can take pressure off them as primary creators. But first and foremost, they needed help on defence, where they ranked 26th last season and were especially vulnerable at the point of attack.

“For me, this year, I’m trying to bring leadership, defensive mindset, being that dog, just doing the little things on the floor,” Mitchell said. “Over my career playing basketball, every team that I’ve been on, the guy that’s on the ball brings that energy. I think that me putting pressure on the ball up top, a lot of people are gonna want to play just as hard. No one wants to stand out by not playing hard. So, me bringing that energy is going to show.”

After spending a week in Toronto, getting acclimated to the city, Mitchell has joined the Raptors in Las Vegas for Summer League. For the second straight year, the team has built a makeshift court in a ballroom at the Wynn hotel, and – like the club’s other vets – he’ll be able to train and get some extra work in after the younger players finish practice.

“We’re trying to get him up to speed, how we are working, how we are communicating, how we are doing business over here in Toronto,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said following Thursday’s practice. “We’re really excited to welcome him on our team.”

At minimum, Mitchell should help in those areas of need, while playing a key role as a reserve in Rajakovic’s rotation next season. What he can do from there is the question.

A former lottery pick, Mitchell hasn’t quite developed as the Kings had hoped or imagined he would when they selected him ninth overall in 2021, five picks after Barnes. He averaged 11.5 points and 4.3 assists in roughly 28 minutes per game as a rookie. However, as Sacramento has climbed up the Western Conference standings these past two seasons, his playing time and his numbers have dropped. He averaged 5.3 points and 1.9 assists in 15 minutes over 72 games in 2023-24, his third NBA campaign.

Part of that decline can be attributed to a logjam at the guard position, playing behind an all-star in De’Aaron Fox and last season’s Sixth Man runner-up in Malik Monk. Some of his offensive shortcomings, particularly his jumper, have also held him back – he’s hit only 33 per cent of his three-point attempts as a pro.

With Sacramento’s depth at the position and desire to shed salary to duck the luxury tax, Mitchell became expendable, and the Raptors – armed with the cap flexibility they created at or around last February’s trade deadline – saw an opportunity to take a flier on an intriguing redraft candidate.

The Raptors could have opened up roughly $30 million in cap space by declining Bruce Brown’s team option (which they picked it up) and letting Gary Trent Jr. walk in free agency (they are expected to move on from him, as TSN reported earlier this week). But instead of being major players in an unremarkable free agent market, they opted to use the space to absorb salary from Sacramento (while also retaining Brown and his expiring contract as a trade chip).

In exchange for the disappointing Jalen McDaniels, as well as the cap relief, Toronto added Mitchell, Bulgarian sharpshooter Sasha Vezenkov, the 45th pick in last month’s draft – which they used on another defensive-minded point guard in Jamal Shead – and Portland’s 2025 second-round pick. Whether Vezenkov ever plays for the team remains to be seen, as multiple reports have indicated that the 28-year-old forward is seeking a buyout to go play in Greece, something that the Raptors have little incentive to accommodate. It’s complicated, and as Masai Ujiri said this week, “we’ll see” how it plays out. The picks are helpful, with Toronto looking to rebuild its development pipeline. However, the key piece was Mitchell.

At 25 and with three years of NBA experience under his belt, he qualifies as a vet on this very young Raptors roster, but they’re hoping that there’s still some untapped potential there. Perhaps it can be unlocked in their system.

There is cause for optimism on that front. After shooting 32 per cent from three-point range over his first two seasons, he shot 36 per cent last year, albeit on just 2.2 attempts per game. Notably, he did shoot 45 per cent on 4.7 attempts in his final season at Baylor. It's something that he continues to work on.

He doesn’t have to become a plus three-point shooter, necessarily – though that could be the difference between coming off the bench and starting in this league. What he needs to do is develop a passable jumper, enough to be a threat and keep the defence honest so he can stay on the floor and wreak havoc defensively. Minimize his weaknesses so that he’s able to better take advantage of his strength.

And, as far back as he can remember, defence has always been a strength.

“I love doing it,” Mitchell said. “I think I’m really strong. My quads are really strong. I’ve been gifted with a lot of abilities that God has given me.”

“I think, for me, I have really fast feet. I can stop on a dime better than, I think, anybody in the world. I have really good recovery speed. So, a lot of it is God gifted, but also you just have to have effort. You’ve gotta play extremely hard and want to do it.”

The Raptors are sure hoping that it’s contagious. As Patrick Beverley once said, Toronto could use a dog or two. They may have found one in Mitchell.

“It's not just about him, it's all the guys,” Rajakovic said. “Everybody has to step up. We're working a lot during the summer to really improve on-ball defence, aggressiveness. We're really, really trying to – as you can see in the draft class as well – find as many possible two-way guys. We call them the most important guy. Most important guy is the guy who's guarding the ball. He makes it easier for everybody else. And we're really trying to develop everybody on our roster to be able to do a better job.”