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While the Miami Heat made headlines trading for Norman Powell from the Los Angeles Clippers, the team had made other lateral moves that no doubt impacted the upcoming season. One was the Heat re-signing Davion Mitchell on a $24 million contract as the 26-year-old spoke Tuesday about coming back to play for the team.
Mitchell was traded to Miami from the Toronto Raptors as part of the multi-team deal that sent Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors. While Andrew Wiggins was the featured piece, Mitchell served as arguably the most effective asset as someone who fit easily into the team's identity.
What made this team different for Mitchell and ultimately one of the reasons he signed back to Miami was learning under head coach Erik Spoelstra, according to The Miami Herald.
“One, coach [Erik Spoelstra] is one of the greatest coaches of all time,” Mitchell said. “So just learning from him, just asking questions, you won’t get any better answers from anybody else, I think. And just my teammates, my teammates wanted me here, they embraced me here, they wanted me to be myself. If I can be somewhere and be myself, I know I can be the best player I can be.”
Mitchell approached the offseason as a restricted free agent, but chose to re-sign with Miami immediately, wanting to know what heights the team can take.
“I just wanted to do what was best for me and my family, obviously,” Mitchell said. “But I wanted to be here, I wanted to keep playing here, especially because I didn’t have that many months here. I got traded in February, so I wanted to see what I could do for this team and what we can do as an organization.”
Davion Mitchell on fitting into “Heat Culture”
A big goal heading into the Heat's summer was re-signing Mitchell as he gave the team a lot of versatility whether it be him starting or coming off the bench. He showed flashes of being a playmaker and setting up the team's featured duo of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, while also helping elevate young talent like Kel'el Ware.
Plus, he has a defensive intensity that earned a nickname like “pitbull” from Adebayo and others on the team. Mitchell is ready to come back and keep building that camaraderie, which should be easy as he speaks to the “Heat Culture” as he mentions.
“I’m just excited to be back here with this group of guys, with this coaching staff, with this organization. It’s completely different from the places I’ve been in,” Mitchell said. “They really take winning seriously here and I respect that, and I’m excited to be here.”
“I think it’s the Heat culture thing,” Mitchell continued. “They embrace playing really hard and I think that’s what I bring to the game every single game, every moment of the game, I’m playing hard until the last second. So they just love players who just go out there and give it their all.”
At any rate, Miami is looking to improve after finishing last season with a 37-45 record, which put them 10th in the Eastern Conference. While the team would make the playoffs through the play-in tournament, they would be swept in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
