The Miami Heat’s early-season mess has left one thing looking surprisingly solid: the point guard spot. While the team has stumbled to a 1-4 start and the fit between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo has raised questions, Davion Mitchell has quietly become one of the bright spots.
That’s not a small development for a team that came into the year with big expectations after adding Antetokounmpo and veteran help like Klay Thompson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bobby Portis. Miami still has issues to sort out - perimeter shooting has been shaky and closing games has been a problem - but Mitchell has given the Heat something they badly needed at the position they didn’t fully address.
Through six games, the decision to hand him the starting job looks like a strong one.
Mitchell, 28, didn’t arrive in Miami with much star buzz attached to his name. He was a standout at Baylor, where he won a national title in 2021, and that run pushed him into the top 10 of the draft.
The Sacramento Kings took him with the No. 9 pick, but he landed in a crowded backcourt behind De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. Even after Haliburton was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2022, Mitchell’s minutes went down, and he ended up with the Toronto Raptors in the 2024 offseason.
His time in Toronto didn’t amount to much. He posted unimpressive numbers in the first half of the 2024-25 season before being traded to Miami in 2025. Since then, his career has taken a different turn.
Over the last season-and-a-half, Mitchell has become a real contributor for the Heat. What once looked like a throw-in at the 2025 trade deadline has turned into a meaningful piece. Entering this season, the expectation was that he might already be close to his ceiling, but he has pushed past that early view with better production and more minutes.
The usage has climbed too. With so many new veterans around him, the assumption was that Mitchell would settle into a smaller role as a low-usage, high-efficiency guard. Instead, he has taken on more, and he has handled it well.
It’s still early, but Mitchell has already outperformed expectations and may be one of Miami’s most important players this season. There have been rumors about the Heat pursuing guards like Kyrie Irving, but if Mitchell keeps this up, it will be hard to justify changing the point guard situation. He is also set to hit free agency this offseason.
In Other News...
Giannis Just Sent Heat Fans A Clear Message About Bam
Bam Adebayo has been at the center of Miamis recent turn, and even Giannis Antetokounmpo took notice after the Heats latest wins. Antetokounmpo singled out Adebayo for the kind of defensive work that rarely shows up in a box score, pointing to the difficult assignments he handled against players such as Jalen Johnson and Pascal Siakam as Miami started to steady itself after an uneven opening stretch.
Adebayo also backed it up on the floor in the win over Indiana, finishing with 27 points, three steals, nine rebounds and three assists while Antetokounmpo posted a triple-double on the other side. The Heat have now strung together consecutive victories by tightening up on defense and finding more rhythm offensively in the middle quarters, and the bigger question is whether this is the start of something more lasting for a team that dropped its first four games. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Hit Another Low After Celtics Loss As Frustration Boils Over
The first night of the 2026 NBA Cup had its share of fireworks around the league, from Stephen Curry powering the Warriors back from a big early hole against the Lakers to Luka Doni putting up 37 in a losing effort and Kevin Durant delivering a highlight dunk in the Rockets' loss to the Mavericks. But from a Miami perspective, the most relevant subplot was the Bulls taking another step backward in a loss to the Celtics, a result that only deepened the sense that Chicago is still searching for answers.
For the Heat, the Bulls' slide matters because it keeps a familiar Eastern Conference rival stuck in a frustrating stretch while other teams around the bracket try to find traction early in the tournament. The Celtics handled business, the Bulls did not, and the gap in composure was hard to miss on a night when several teams found ways to respond under the bright lights. How Chicago bounces back from this one will be worth watching, especially with the frustration around the team already building. [Read more 🡒]
Heat's Rocky Start Just Put Bam And Giannis Under Real Pressure
Miamis uneven opening has already turned the spotlight toward the fit between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, a pairing that was supposed to give the Heat a new kind of frontcourt force. Instead, the clubs 2-4 start has fueled questions about chemistry and whether the roster is still searching for the right balance around two high-level bigs who both need room to operate.
The chatter only picked up after former NBA player Matt Barnes floated the idea on a podcast that Adebayo could become a trade candidate if the partnership never finds its footing, even naming the Knicks as a possible landing spot. There is no indication Miami is actually headed down that road, but the fact that the conversation is already out there says plenty about how quickly early-season frustration can turn into bigger speculation around a team trying to make a major move work. [Read more 🡒]