Heat reaches agreement to bring back Davion Mitchell ahead of free agency. Here are the details
Davion Mitchell's time with the Miami Heat will continue.
After arriving to the Heat in the Feb. 6 Jimmy Butler trade, Mitchell turned in one of the best sustained stretches of his NBA career in the final months of this past season.
Mitchell will now have an opportunity to try to continue that impressive stretch in a Heat uniform, agreeing to a new deal worth $24 million over two seasons to return to Miami, league sources confirmed to the Miami Herald on Saturday. The contract does not include any options, with the money fully guaranteed.
With NBA teams allowed to begin negotiating with their own impending free agents this past Monday after the NBA Finals ended, the Heat was able reach an agreement with Mitchell before league-wide free-agent negotiations are allowed to begin this upcoming Monday at 6 p.m. Mitchell was set to become a restricted free agent, but agreed to his new contract with the Heat before hitting the open market.
This is the biggest contract of Mitchell's NBA career. Mitchell, who turns 27 on Sept. 5, made $6.5 million this past season in the final year of his rookie-scale contract after getting drafted with the ninth overall pick in 2021.
Under his new contract, Mitchell is expected to be on a salary of about $11.5 million this upcoming season and a $12.5 million salary for the 2026-27 season.
After arriving to the Heat on Feb. 6, Mitchell averaged 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 50.4% from the field and 44.7% on 3.1 three-point attempts per game in 30 regular-season appearances (15 starts). Mitchell averaged just 6.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 43.4% from the field and 35.9% on threes in 44 appearances for the Toronto Raptors prior to being traded to the Heat this past season.
Mitchell carried that late-season momentum into the postseason, totaling nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range in overtime of the Heat's playoff-clinching win over the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament on April 18.
Mitchell's efficient outside shooting with the Heat proved to be a revelation, as he entered this past season as a 32.7 percent three-point shooter over his first three NBA seasons.
That reputation led to opponents consistently leaving Mitchell open from three-point range, but he took advantage by shooting 37 of 76 (48.7%) on wide open threes (defined by the NBA as when the closest defender is more than six feet away) with the Heat last regular season.
But Mitchell's calling card is still his on-ball defense. Known as 'Off Night' for his ability to shut down opposing teams' top scorers, Mitchell's point-of-attack defense immediately helped the Heat.
The Heat allowed 3.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with Mitchell on the court compared to when he wasn't playing after the February trade.
With Mitchell returning, the Heat's current salary-cap breakdown includes 14 players on standard contracts with partially guaranteed or fully guaranteed salaries for next season: Bam Adebayo ($37.1 million), Tyler Herro ($31 million), Andrew Wiggins ($28.2 million), Terry Rozier ($24.9 million of $26.6 million salary currently guaranteed), Mitchell ($11.5 million), Kyle Anderson ($9.2 million), Haywood Highsmith ($5.6 million), Nikola Jovic ($4.4 million), Kel'el Ware ($4.4 million), Kevin Love ($4.2 million), Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($3.9 million), Kasparas Jakucionis ($3.7 million), Pelle Larsson ($978,000 of $2 million salary currently guaranteed) and Keshad Johnson ($2 million).
If Duncan Robinson bypasses the early-termination option in his contract, he would become the 15th Heat player on that list and put the Heat at the 15-man regular-season limit for an NBA standard roster ahead of the start of Monday's league-wide free-agent negotiations. Robinson has until Sunday at 5 p.m. to decide on his early-termination option.
In this scenario, the Heat could waive Robinson by the July 8 deadline to guarantee his full salary for next season or make a trade to open room on its standard roster.
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(Injured players) will notice those things through development.'
