The Miami Heat have checked off some helpful boxes during the 2025 NBA offseason, like perking up their perimeter offense with the Norman Powell trade or growing their collection of young talent with the potentially bargain-priced draft pick of Kasparas Jakučionis.
They did, however, notably fail to find a plug-and-play floor general, meaning their problems at point guard may not go away. Particularly when considering how rough-around-the-edges Jakučionis appeared at Summer League and the Terry Rozier situation growing stagnant.
Then again, what if this problem was already addressed last season? After all, Davion Mitchell looked like a legitimate difference-maker upon his arrival in the Jimmy Butler blockbuster, and since Mitchell is only a four-year veteran who was once the No. 9 pick of the 2021 draft, it's fair to wonder whether that late-season surge may have hinted at even better things to come.
Mitchell looked awesome in Miami, and he might still be scratching the surface.
Given how successful Miami's player development program has fared, maybe it shouldn't have been surprising to see Mitchell thrive within it.
Between his dogged defense, relentless energy, and willingness to play a role, he looks like a player cut from the same cloth as the Heat's famed culture. He was sort of a Miami player long before he ever touched down in Biscayne Bay.
"The minute Davion arrived and we saw him on the floor, we knew he was going to be someone who stuck around," a Heat front office executive told Spotrac's Keith Smith. "Sometimes when you make a trade, guys are kind of in and out and you keep shuffling. With Davion, we knew right away. He's perfect with our guys and our mindset."
Now, this unnamed executive is obviously a biased observer, but the stat sheet backs up their words.
Mitchell was more than individually excellent, although he was clearly that. In 30 regular-season games with South Beach's finest, he pumped in 10.3 points (on 50.4/44.7/70.2 shooting) and 5.3 assists (against 1.7 turnovers) in his 31.6 minutes. And, unlike most of his teammates, he hit another level in the postseason, averaging 15 points (61/50/42.9 shooting) and 6.3 assists (2.0 turnovers) in 35.5 minutes.
Those are great numbers for a complementary player, but Mitchell's impact went even further. When he hit the hardwood, Miami improved both its offensive proficiency and defensive resistance. All told, his floor presence was a positive swing of 6.4 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com.
While he'd never been this kind of player before, he'd be far from the first overlooked player to find his groove with the franchise. System fits are undervalued when evaluating a player's performance, and maybe this is just the right environment to bring out his best.
Plus, there are some statistical indicators that what he showed wasn't merely a mirage. He has always been a good decision-maker (career 3.3 assists against 1.2 turnovers), and his gradual growth as a shooter in the NBA followed the same pattern as his college days, when he went from averaging 0.4 threes on 28.8 percent shooting as a freshman to 2.1 on 44.7 by his junior campaign.
Skeptics will still question the sample size of Mitchell's emergence, and that's fair based on what he'd done (or, really, hadn't done) in his NBA career prior to landing in Miami. Optimists, though, might believe they're simply seeing a young, talented player coming into his own. And if those optimists are right, then the Heat have already answered what was their biggest question for the 2025-26 campaign.