Davion Mitchell can’t stay out of the gym, Kings tell him to get some rest

One of the biggest adjustments to the NBA so far for Davion Mitchell is the amount of free time he has. The Sacramento Kings rookie told media Tuesday that in college he had classes on top of basketball responsibilities and that shift to only having basketball responsibilities is something he is still getting used to.

And how he phrased it makes it clear the 23-year-old doesn’t necessarily like too much down time. In fact, the Kings are having to tell him to stop trying to work out so much.

“They’re telling me to go home, but I feel like I’ve just got to work on so many things. They’re telling me to get out of the gym, go get some rest because I don’t know, it’s like 82 games and I’ve never played this long of a season before,” Mitchell said. “So, they’re kind of helping me out a little bit, but there’s so many things I want to work on. But yeah, they’re running me out of here.”

Mitchell said he did take a couple of days off after the NBA Summer League, but that was it.

“I tried not to take too much time off because I just hate taking so much time off because you have to get back in your rhythm. So, I took a couple days off because they said I needed it because I’ve never played 82 games before,” he said.

While it is certainly true that NBA players need to pace themselves and not put too much pressure on their bodies before training camp, especially rookies, it is a really positive sign to see how much Mitchell wants to work.

Tyrese Haliburton has taken notice.

“They had to tell him that he can’t be in here [laughs], but he really is in here all the time. He lives here it seems like and that’s a great trait to have. He works so hard that it is no surprise why he is where he is and has had the success he has had in his basketball career. So that’s refreshing for me to see a guy working like that, it makes me work harder and I hope everybody sees that and it works that way for everybody,” Haliburton said.

Harrison Barnes discussed the maturity Mitchell displays.

“His maturity and his work ethic. He comes in, he’s a professional, which is something you don’t see a lot with younger guys in the league, but I think his time being in college and obviously winning a championship has allowed him to come in very mature, know what he needs to do, know how to take care of his body – those are all the recipes that are going to set him up to be successful I think from day one,” Barnes said.

Mitchell has enjoyed playing with Fox so far and hopes to one day be able to emulate the pace he plays at.

“Fox kind of took me under his wing. I love watching him play man. His pace is amazing. I want to get there one day where he’s so fast, but you don’t know because he plays so slow and then he uses his speed when he has to. It’s like somewhere I’m looking forward to getting to, but just keep watching him and keep playing against him I think I’ll be able to get there,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also shared his thoughts on the potential three-guard lineup featuring himself, De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton.

“I think one of the challenges, things that we will have to work on is being able to guard the bigger guards, being able to rebound at a high level since we’re all smaller guards not known for rebounding. So, we’ve got to actually put on our body on somebody, boxing out – those little things that I think will help us,” Mitchell said. “I also played with three guards in college so I’m kind of used to not always having the ball in my hands, playing off the ball, knowing who gets the shot, who is hot, things like that. So, it’s not really that new to me so I’m looking forward to it.”

Here are the full media sessions with Mitchell and Barnes.