When Davion Mitchell lets a deep three go and holds that follow-through, one of the coaches who helped shape that shot sometimes notices from afar. Then comes the text.
“Hey, that follow through looked good,” the message says.
That kind of check-in says plenty about how Mitchell got here. Long before he became Miami’s starting point guard, and before Giannis Antetokounmpo arrived to push the Heat’s ceiling higher, Mitchell and former Sacramento development coach Leo Alapag were grinding through the same details over and over: balance, arc, footwork, and finishing the shot cleanly.
Those habits are now part of Miami’s equation. The Heat need Mitchell to space the floor, keep possessions moving, and punish defenses that want to leave him alone.
In an exclusive interview with OnSI, Alapag talked about the work behind Mitchell’s offensive growth and the relationship that has survived two trades. The former Philippine Basketball Association MVP, now a head coach, still speaks about Mitchell like someone invested in the person as much as the player.
“Davion is like family,” Alapag said. “He knows my wife. He knows all my kids.”
The connection also helped Alapag’s career. After two seasons with Sacramento’s G League affiliate in Stockton, he was waiting to see what came next when Mike Brown asked him to work with Mitchell.
Later, Alapag said Brown called with two pieces of news: Mitchell liked their sessions, and Alapag would be joining the Kings’ staff. Back home in the Philippines, it was a proud moment for one of their own moving up in the NBA.
Brown made it clear what he wanted from Mitchell. Defense had already given the guard his “Off Night” nickname, but that alone was never going to be enough for a small guard trying to stay on the floor. Shooting had to become part of the package.
Alapag worked on the pieces that make a jumper repeatable: balance, a steadier arc, and a strong follow-through. The two of them even went back to film from Mitchell’s national championship season at Baylor to study the way he released the ball.
There was another layer to the challenge, too. Mitchell’s first job was still on the other end of the floor.
“He’s exerting so much effort on the defensive end,” Alapag said.
That made the shooting work even harder to sustain. The task was not just making a clean motion in practice; it was carrying that same form into the next possession after spending all that energy chasing an opposing guard.
Mitchell bought in fully. Alapag remembered their first morning at the Sanctuary training facility in Spain, after a heavy stretch of travel, when Mitchell asked an NBPA representative to open the gym at 6 a.m. so they could get to work before anyone else arrived.
“You would be hard-pressed to find anybody who works harder,” Alapag said.
The numbers show how long the climb took. Mitchell’s minutes dipped from 27.7 per game as a Sacramento rookie to 15.3 in his third season, but his three-point percentage rose from 31.6 to 36.1% in that span. The growth was already in motion before he reached Miami.
After a stop in Toronto, he joined the Heat in February 2025 and hit 44.7 percent from three over 30 regular-season games. He also caught fire in the play-in against Atlanta, helping Miami reach the playoffs. It was a strong start, though it came on only 94 attempts.
Last season gave a clearer picture. Mitchell shot 39.5 percent from three on 228 attempts while starting all 70 games he played.
Across his first 100 regular-season games with Miami, he made 132 of 322 threes, or 41.0%. Before arriving, he was 263-for-792, which is 33.2%.
That gap doesn’t prove exactly how much came from mechanics, opportunity, or the setting around him, but it does make the improvement hard to wave away.
His passing has taken a step, too. Mitchell averaged 6.5 assists last season with 1.5 turnovers.
Using the raw totals, that was 453 assists and 108 turnovers, good for a 4.19 assist-to-turnover ratio. That was up from 3.20 in his first Miami stint.
The growth was not just about playing more. His assists per 36 minutes climbed from roughly 6.1 to 8.2 between those two Heat seasons.
Dunks & Threes’ season-specific Estimated Plus-Minus model put his 2025-26 impact at plus-0.6 points per 100 possessions relative to an average player, which landed him in its 75th percentile. That points to a useful player, though it is still just an estimate, not a guarantee of what happens when the games get tight.
For Miami, the appeal is easy to see. Mitchell can bring order to possessions, involve teammates, and force defenders to think twice before abandoning him on the perimeter.
Alapag says he sees the progress in Mitchell’s reads, his finishing, and his consistency from deep. He also sees the same player who will sit down, study film, and work through the details.
“I’m going to lean on my own experience,” Alapag recalled telling Mitchell, describing how he approached coaching a player in a league he never reached as a player himself.
That willingness to learn has been matched by a willingness to take charge. At Monday’s Media Day, Antetokounmpo singled Mitchell out among the teammates who had stood out during offseason work. Speaking to Heat on SI’s Brady Hawk, Giannis said, “he wants to be a leader, he wants to lead by example.”
The Heat had already held a players-only camp Mitchell called “pain camp.” In Miami, apparently, introductions come with conditioning attached.
The fit still has some moving parts. With Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo on the floor together, Mitchell has to be ready to fire when help defenders collapse into the paint.
His 39.5% shooting is a good sign, but 3.3 three-point attempts per game leaves a real question about volume. A defender can still cheat off a good shooter if that shooter hesitates.
Miami’s other additions help give Erik Spoelstra options. Klay Thompson and Tim Hardaway Jr. bring more shooting, while a 20-pounds leaner Bobby Portis adds another frontcourt look. Mitchell’s role should include getting the ball to those shooters quickly, working with Adebayo in screening actions, and staying useful when Giannis initiates.
Defensively, the upside is obvious: Mitchell pressuring the ball up top, with Adebayo and Antetokounmpo backing him up behind the play. Whether that turns into something bigger will come down to possessions that are a lot tougher than any offseason workout.
Alapag will be watching, as a coach and as someone who knows Mitchell beyond the scouting report.
And yes, he’ll probably be thinking about the follow-through.
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