During De’Aaron Fox’s five missed games due to an injured ankle, the point guard position for the Sacramento Kings was in a state of flux. After multiple underwhelming games as starting point guard, Davion Mitchell was moved to the bench with Keon Ellis getting inserted into the starting role. Ellis performed well in his opportunity. He didn’t put up huge stats, but he played solid defense, contributed offensively, and initiated Sacramento’s offense quickly and effectively. And Davion Mitchell played better back in a bench role as well. I thought it was impressive how Davion responded to being moved back to the bench, especially in favor of a player on a Two-Way contract.
With De’Aaron Fox returning to the lineup on Monday, there was a question heading into the game of what the minutes would look like between Ellis and Davion. The answer was a little bit surprising. Davion Mitchell registered a DNP-CD. In fact, he was the only dressed King who did not play in Monday’s win. When Mike Brown emptied the bench at the end of the game, he gave Jordan Ford the garbage time minutes. Ellis, meanwhile, played 12 minutes, adding 2 points, 2 assists, 1 block and 2 turnovers for the Kings. He did also add good defensive play, with Ellis’ height and wingspan being noticeably more impactful than Davion against bigger opponents.
All of this leads to the question, what is Davion Mitchell’s future in Sacramento? Does he have a future here?
Mitchell has been an odd fit since he was drafted by the Kings in the 2021 Draft. At the time he was joining a team with two established young guards in Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. Following the Haliburton trade Davion publicly spoke about how it was clear somebody needed to be moved because there wasn’t enough of an opportunity for everyone. Even now, it feels as though Davion may not be in the right situation for his long-term success. As was noted on the most recent episode of The Kings Herald Show, it doesn’t feel like the Kings current system is a great fit for Davion, as he’s more of a ball-dominant player who needs the ball in his hands to be most effective.
Of course, all of this could be for nothing. We’ve seen Mike Brown experiment with lineup changes in the past, only to revert back after a few games. For example, Sasha Vezenkov received a DNP against Portland on November 8th, and played 17 minutes for the Kings on Monday. Sasha’s situation is obviously different, though. Davion is more of a known quantity to Mike Brown and the Kings at this point in his career.
The question facing the Kings now is whether Davion is in the franchise’s future plans.
Davion
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I resemble that remark…
More like “DNP – Trade Asset Protection.”
The writing has been on the wall for a while now. Many fans including me love Davion but we want him to flourish and the offensive scheme here in Sacramento clearly does not suit him well. He also is one of key trade assets to try upgrade the Harrison Barnes spot, so a trade seems inevitable at this point.
I think we’re past that stage. Monte can’t be holding on so long
As I mentioned in the other thread, the bigger issue may be his contract. He’s guaranteed $5M this year and $6.4M next season. Keon, on the other hand, is a two-way player who is limited to how many games he can play in unless he is signed to a regular contract. The Kings, Keon, and Davion do have time to feel things out. Maybe things will be much clearer in a few weeks, but right now it looks like Keon has the edge.
It’s a bit of a bummer that the Kings guaranteed Davion’s 4th year, but at the time I guess it made sense? It’s beginning to look like the 2021 drafting of Davion at #9 may be one of only errors of Monte’s current run at GM.
Toronto needs PG depth, maybe Davion for Precious Achiuwa makes sense for both clubs?
“Error”, that’s a stretch I think. Davion is a good player. I’m not even close to saying he’s defined his career here in Sacramento with less than 10 games played in the season. There’s several players who have had slow starts this season for the kings. He’s been pretty solid even though it’s been not as good as we and he expect. I go back to a quote from Doug Christie in the pre season saying that Davion looked so good that Mike Brown was going to have a hard time keeping him off the floor.
my advice is we should be more patient and not make declarations about guys. Huerter is a perfect example. Through 5 games he was “trash, couldn’t play D at all, if his shots not falling he’s not an nba player, and we should trade him”. Now he’s awesome after two games of the Heurter we know and love who did it over 82 games and then lost his mojo in the playoffs.
chill
I’d chill if this were his rookie year, or even the beginning of his second year, but it’s not. He came in as an older rookie and has shown zero growth in any area of his game, and now he is in year 3. He is who he is at this point, and in my opinion, doesn’t really fit Brown’s system. He can’t create his own shot, doesn’t come off screens or DHOs, doesn’t create for others, and he slows the pace down. The numbers don’t lie and the numbers show that the Kings are worse when he is on the court.
If there was any sign of growth from him, I’d chill, but there is not.
Can you point to anything that he has improved in?
I don’t know that we’d see much growth from a player who has the unfortunate role of backing De’Aaron Fox. The guy doesn’t miss much time. Add in the fact that there’s not much room to slide him into the 2 and…
Davion ahs shown he’s quite capable in stretches, shown that he does need more minutes to be effective and when you add all that up it’s a pretty tough mix of ingredients to make chicken salad out of, I don’t care who you are.
Trying to extract a list of accomplishments / improvements out of that doesn’t really seem to make for much of an argument. Rather, I’d ask you to point to a backup you think we could realistically obtain who’d be content filling in for De’Aaron Fox 6-10 nights a season who’d be a statistical upgrade and wouldn’t bitch about lack of PT, role, etc. over the course of 82+ games, because that list isn’t going to be a very long one.
Davion needs to be more consistent or he needs to be traded, but all this “he hasn’t improved” / “doesn’t fit the system” mess when we’re 8 games into the season is a bit much just yet. Like the man said, chill, bro.
His future with the team is, at most, this season and next.
by future plans, do you mean for the rest of this year, or do you mean next season and beyond?
long term future: probably not. Huerter and Monk rank higher at the guard spots for this team.
short term future (ie., this year): probably. Keon Ellis is not a proven commodity on offense yet and Colby Jones is a rookie. Davion impacts games when he is locked in. (how people forget)
DNP – My Bad
First off, Ford can go back to Stockton. No need for two 3rd string PGs. As long as Ellis continues to contribute meaningful minutes, he gets them over Davion. Mitchell can come in spot situations for defense on smaller guards.
I think it’s fine to have the 2-way guys there for home games. There’s no harm in dressing them even if they only get garbage minutes. They are only there for that or emergencies.
I’m guessing Ford and Slawson would stay home for road trips and would instead get in time at Stockton.
Lockdown D in special circumstances… end of quarters, halves or games. That’s about it. He can’t shoot, pass or create off the dribble, and he’s small.
Nice short, succinct and to the point comment which probably sums up most fan’s thoughts of DM.
not mine
Agreed. Can’t pass or create off the dribble? Huh?? Pace and shooting are the complaints with Davion, not his skillset.
Starting Point Guard: 5 points 1 rebound 2 assists 0 steals
If you’re going to use such a small sample size, why didn’t you just highlight a single quarter where he had no assists?
I just used the last game he had significant minutes. That’s a lottery pick PG not only being totally ineffective but also, look at his teammates. This was the case for all the games Fox was out. If the PG is an offensive liability he has to at least make everyone around him better. He wasn’t missed at all in the last game where he got a DNP and the team lead wire to wire. I’ve watched basically every Kings game since they moved to Sac and I’ve seen dozens of these mediocre players… when they finally leave here you never hear from them again. Frank Mason is a great example but there’s a laundry list of Davion Mitchells. He is a terrific defender for his size and valuable in this way, but that’s it.
The larger sample size is even more convincing.
How soon we forget how he was routinely a game changer for 82 games last year. Slow start that really hasn’t even been that horrible. The Houston games everyone sucked super super hard.
this is a moment to collectively chill a bit.
in my opinion.
That’s not true. This blanket statement is 100% false
Frank Mason?
I thought the same thing.
Stop it.
Of course, all of this IS for nothing. It’s one friggin’ game.
Yeah I won’t be surprised to see Davion back in the rotation again. It’s on DNP-CD, we’ve seen plenty of other players get those already and we’re only 8 games in.
Totally off topic but did you see the melee between dubs and wolves?
On ESPN, the video had dubs commentators. WOW,do those guys have an interesting perspective on things. Draymond goes UFC on Gobert and they are like “Draymond always gets the short end of the stick in these situations”.
Just Wow.
Heard that. Draymond was choking out Gobert for seemingly no reason.
Meanwhile, Klay initiated the contact by sticking his hand a bit too close to McDanials throat/upper chest and let it linger there too long. Of course the dubs announcers glanced over that detail.
Draymond is their enforcer, and Gobert did have Thompson in a headlock, so while I’m no Warriors fan, I’d honestly be more surprised to see Draymond not put Gobert in a headlock. Draymond’s biggest problem, imo, was how long he held Gobert in that position.
As for what preceded, that was all Klay Thompson grabbing jersey and not expecting a reaction.
In the end the Warriors look silly, and that’s a win for almost everyone.
Gobert did not have Klay in a headlock. By the time Draymond is pulling him away Gobert’s hands are together and around Klay’s torso.
You guys can say all you want to defend Green but in my opinion there is something wrong with his head. He needs help.
Also the Warriors announcers need help to.
If I did what Draymond did to a co-worker and my place of business, I’d be charged with assault.
I agree. But there is another point here. These dudes are soft. I’m looking at you KAT. That soft ass stood there and watched Draymond choke his center out for 7 mins and decided to “try” and pull him back once the refs starting gaining control of the melee. No backbone. I would have traded his ass on the spot. That’s why Jimmy Butler punked him. He’s soft. I don’t condone violence, but damn what are you a fan?
And they lost the game!
I didn’t notice Gobert’s headlock. I saw him get involved, but I guess me looking at Daymond is a representation of him getting “the short end of the stick from me”.
You didn’t notice Gobert’s headlock for the same reason that you didn’t see the Easter Bunny last spring.
What… are you telling me that the Easter bunny is not real? Great at least I have Santa and the Tooth fairy….
Warriors have become a despicable franchise. Watching Klay make excuses for Draymond stomping Sabonis while Kerr shrugged his shoulders was the point I realized that this is a dying franchise of has-beens who are lashing out since they can’t win basketball games straight up anymore. Curry either drops 50 a night or they get roasted. A pack of bums.
I took a few things from the incident: First, Klay was grabbing at McDaniels jersey because he couldn’t keep up with him, something you see in the Premier League, too. He’s too slow to keep up with younger guards. Second, Minnesota sent a message in both games at Chase: “We aren’t taking your crap anymore, we are young and talented, and you guys are old and slow.” The players didn’t back down when the Warriors pulled their stunts.
I think that this is something that we will see fairly often, teams responding to the Warriors dark arts and dirty play with confrontation and escalation. It is going to a difficult year for them.
The worst thing for the Warriors is that Draymond is out of control, Game 2 against the Kings, stomping on Sabonis and taunting the fans while Kerr pretended not to see it, and now this. He can’t emotionally deal with his decline as a player and the Warriors decline as a team, and the Warriors have him for 3 years, I think. Is Kerr so oblivious that he doesn’t realize that Draymond is toxic, that he’s becoming a cancer?
I’m afraid that we are going to see a really bad incident with Draymond this year, a malice in the palace situation, or one where they have to call 5 security guards to get him off the court after an ejection.
And they added one of the oldest and dirtiest players in the league to their team this year. It’s going to be a long, painful season for them.
Yeah, Paul rolled under Conley and tried to take out his knees last night, too.
an ugly one for sure. They made this choice as a team when they signed the biggest DB in the league. I hope entitled dubs fans choke on it all season, Steve Kerr resigns in disgust and Steph Curry retires at the end of the season so CP3 and Draymond Goon can have the team all to themselves.
Draymond Green is a clown. Defending his actions, especially regarding altercations he’s a part of at anytime, should be grounds for the Ban Hammer.
I repeat: Draymond is a clown. Defending his actions should be grounds for the Ban Hammer.
That is all.
I think this type of an article just perpetuates an over reaction culture we’re all living in. After 1 game of DNP and a relatively rough start offensively for the entire Kings team with 2 absolutely horrible losses to Houston where they looked like a rec league team at the YMCA should not lead to an article like this. In my opinion. If we see a series of games 3,4,5 dnp’s in a row… now that’s something to talk about. I mean the game before he had arguably his best game of the season back in a bench role. That’s pretty damn impressive in regards to his character which is the thing I think we should be talking about the most.
Uh, no. There’s no one who questions Davions character. There’s nothing to talk about.
All our players have high character so this is irrelevant regarding inclusion or exclusion in the rotation.
I have said it before, and our coach says it often, but it bears repeating: We have an All NBA Duo, or if you prefer a Big Three with Keegan. This is the structure, this is the foundation. The pieces around them are subject to change and experimentation until the ideal complement is found to elevate our team to elite level with DEN and BOS.
We are in this discovery mode now, the evolution to greatness, whether the pieces are on the roster already or external help needs to be pursued.
Davion didn’t get off the bench in Game 7 for TD because he could not make himself a scoring threat. It is arguable whether this was the right decision, but it is inarguable Davion was firing blanks and was being dared to shoot.
Since then Keegan did a superior job against Curry than Davion arguably ever did. (21 points, a season low, for Curry with 7 TOVs with Keegan as primary defender)
I am not abandoning Davion completely, but we cannot cloud our judgment with mushy sentiment.
Look at the end of the tragic Warriors game . He fell asleep on Klay and cost us the Win!
We’d be 6-3, and maybe flying high and got one win in Houston, leading to a possible 7-2 record, if Davion did not commit the mental blunder.
Should we excuse this observational fact because Davion has high character, along with 37% FGs and a 6.7 PER? (rhetorical question)
Interesting observations. Brevity appreciated.
I think his role is in flux. I love Davion for what he is, a serviceable backup PG and an absolute Dawg lock-down individual defender. I think where MB and most Kings fans are frustrated is, he hasn’t improved or adjusted to MB’s offense when he has needed to. He’s still inconsistent at the 3 PT shot and, despite have a decent handle and speed, cannot replicate what Fox does with the offense and DHO’s when he is in, and can’t do what Monk does as a facilitator.
He is incredible, perhaps one of the best in the NBA as an individual defender. Watching him last year in the playoffs was beautiful. But, as the warriors proved, individual defenders can be switched off with a good system and then you have Davion NOT guarding Steph and a liability on offense.
My guess…Davion and Barnes get traded. In the meantime, Davion will get some backup minutes and keep us excited for his potential and frustrated he hasn’t reached it over and over again. He’ll guard small, faster guards and Keon will guard taller, longer guards.
Off Night? More like Off the Team, am I rite? Poor Davion could not even secure a spot on the bench last game, he was on the baseline on the floor, symbolic of his status.
Davion cost us the Warriors game. Watch the tape if you dare. Davion allowed Klay too much space on the last possession, watching the ball, losing his man; by the time he recovered, it was token pressure. Klay is not that hard of a cover anymore, unless you fall asleep.
You don’t think this killed our coach to bear witness to, as much in the film room as when it happened. So close, so far to foiling our nemesis. The team went into a tailspin thereafter, the collective blow to the psyche lingering in Texas.
Here’s another problem. When Davion gets run off the three point line, he’s not even looking at the rim. I don’t know if this is his decision or mandate from the coaches, but it amounts to a less potent player. He’s hesitant to try to finish at the rim too due to the tall timber. So when he’s not making his 3, which is half of the games or more, he’s a ZERO level scorer.
The emergence of Keegan as a defender is detrimental to Davions playing time. We don’t need to put him on Donovan or Curry when we stumbled gloriously upon a superior option.
You could contend Davion is superior to Keon on-the-ball, though that is debatable, but if you grant him that, he is inferior off-the-ball, a roamer who can get deflections and steals, so overall effectiveness is even at best or not in his favor.
Jerry has said repeatedly Davion is a potential young Klye Lowry ; for a time I entertained this possibility. But it is never going to happen if you lack the confidence and assertiveness to score inside the arc. You need to be able to create space, resort to the floater, the stepback, not be daunted by the size.
Making yourself a viable threat to score from anywhere is how passing lanes and angles open up. Otherwise the opponent is just playing you to pass and you become predictable.
You know Keon has made some nice over-the-top skip passes to the corner. Rarely does Davion do this.
It is probable this Lowry-like growth will never occur but if it does, it probably requires a fresh start. The shadow of Fox is too much, and this is before the comers arrived to take his backup minutes. I would love to see Davion on the Spurs, pairing up with Wemby and Pop. The Suns could use Davion but have nothing to offer. I would love to see a Caruso for Davion trade but we’d have to sweeten the pot.
The best game Davion played in the absence of Fox, 13/4/3/3 versus the Dubs was the same game he cost us the W with the mental blunder. OOFAH.
Davions demotion is as justified as McGee aka McBlunder being sent to the bench, the comic relief of a backup, the 17 year veteran who plays like a manic rookie. Please, come back soon Lyles and get well soon Len. Otherwise this journeyman scrub is going to cost us Ws on our 6-game roadie.
I was listening with one ear on 2X speed but did Jerry say McGee was doing good? Doing good how? Helping the opposition?!
I’d love Caruso on the team.
Totally agree!
I too have floated the Kyle Lowry comp. When Lowry came into the league he looked like a marginal backup PG who couldn’t hit the side of a barn with his shot, much like Davion looks now.
One major difference is Lowry could run on an offense and was a facilitator from day one. It also took Lowry until year 5 at age 24 and a change of scenery to turn into player we knew him to be and take over for a very average Aaron Brooks. Davion is in year 3 is already 25 and is not going to be getting a starting role anytime soon from Fox.
You must be so happy to have someone new to shamelessly denigrate now that all of your bullshit about Huerter has aged like so much soft cheese in the tropics.
Keon has more upside than Davion, taller, more athletic, still young and able to translate what he’s taught to the floor quickly.
Spot mins are your answer for Davion. No he’s not what many people thought he was. He’s still a dog so give that man his props. I am in agreement that he should be traded…along with Barnes. The difference is, I think we should hold on to Davion for the rest of the year unless we receive a godfather deal. He’s had some nice moments. Both he and Barnes are ridiculously inconsistent, but I’ll give the edge to Davion. Let him play the season out. Of course he looks unhappy on the bench. You would too if your spot got took. He has pride. Still, in spot mins, he is valuable. I said this in another post, I love Barnes’ character and leadership, but he’s just not that dude. We need an upgrade at his position bad.
Side note: 🗣KEEP SHOOTING THAT ROCK SASHA!!! KEE-GAN…MUR-RAY!!! Headband Huerter is back, and thank the Basketball Gods for Malik and Agent 5.
It takes a good player in addition to Davion to get anything in return.
I prefer Ellis over Davion but we need an improvement at backup point. Davion is too undersized and can’t shoot or score enough, a very average backup. He is expendable, they should move on from him ASAP.
It’s a shame, but he just hasn’t demonstrated improvement in the games. I also saw that crazy defensive on/off stat, which suggests the defensive impact isn’t there this season. The time to deal him was the offseason, but alas, he’ll be in the midseason deal.
I’m gonna file this under “Early Overreaction”
I’m not ready to move Off Night, particularly, but I could understand why some would be. I would say, tho, that as much as we may think there’s a better guy out there to fill his role, people also tend to forget that it takes something to get something. Davion, alone, isn’t going to net you an improvement in your backup PG role, a role that may not get a ton of play in the best of circumstances. How do you sell that to someone who’d be an actual upgrade? I saw the Caruso comment and, sure. But is that really an upgrade?
I don’t see the point of getting bickery about our backup PGs and Cs, but since we’re here can we talk about Len vs McGee?
Javale to me is just… oof. For the 2 plays he changes, I love him. For the 2 rim runs he gets from Monk, I love it. Watching him float around aimlessly on defense when the play lasts longer than 6 seconds, tho… oof. Watching him whiff on assignments trying to get that poster block… oof. Watching him throw the ball to the other team anytime he gets a little pressure put on him… (say it with me…)
So why is he playing more than Len, first off. Why is he playing more than 10 minutes a night, ever is my next question. Just calm down, there, Coach Brown.
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