• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

San Francisco Sports Today

San Francisco Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Baseball
    • A’s
    • Giants
  • Football
    • 49’ers
    • Raiders
  • Basketball
    • Kings
    • Warriers
  • Sharks
  • Earthquakes
  • Colleges
    • San Jose State
    • Stanford
    • University of California, Berkeley

Why Monte McNair made the right decision drafting Davion Mitchell

November 12, 2021 by Sactown Royalty

NBA: Sacramento Kings at Utah Jazz
Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Davion Mitchell is proving to the rest of the league why the Kings wanted him.

When Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair decided to take Davion Mitchell with the ninth overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, many fans questioned his decision. The Kings already had a point guard locked up in De’Aaron Fox, the team’s franchise player. They also drafted another point guard in the previous draft in Tyrese Haliburton, who turned out to be a finalist for Rookie of the Year.

I’d be pissed. They already have two starting guards (Halliburton, Fox) now they have another small guard

— D r 0 g a n (@Pr0d_Dr0gan) July 30, 2021

ANOTHER GUARD???

— _( ) (@shamon_x) July 30, 2021

On top of that the Kings had one of the league’s elite three-point shooters in shooting guard Buddy Hield. So why did McNair choose to draft another guard with a lottery pick?

Earlier this week, McNair sat down with Sam Amick of The Athletic to discuss a few things, including why he chose Mitchell.

Among the reasons McNair gave as to why he picked Mitchell was his winning pedigree. When he was at the University of Baylor, Mitchell achieved a nice handful of hardware. He was the recipient of:

  • NCAA champion (2021)
  • Naismith Defensive Player of the Year (2021)
  • NABC Defensive Player of the Year (2021)
  • Lefty Driesell Award (2021)
  • Third-team All-American – AP, NABC, SN (2021)
  • First-team All-Big 12 (2021)
  • Third-team All-Big 12 (2020)
  • Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year (2021)

Having awards is nice and passes the eye test, but it’s not the sole reason Mitchell was picked. The real motive was the fact that many within the organization considered him the best available player on the board:

Certainly, when you just look at the team we had and who we had drafted the year before and Tyrese and who we already had on the team with De’Aaron, and you say, ‘Why would you draft another point guard?’ (But) this is where we talk about being a best player available in the draft. And it’s a hard thing to do sometimes, but we truthfully sit here and try to (draft) best player available. And when Davion is sitting at the top of our board, we do not hesitate to draft him.

As seen in his college career and now his young NBA career, Mitchell can provide the Kings with something they desperately need: defense. Mitchell earned the nickname “off-night” in college due to his ability to make opposing players have a statistically bad game and he’s shown why through his first few months with the Kings.

2021 Las Vegas Summer League Championship Game - Sacramento Kings v Boston Celtics
Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images

In a Summer League game against the Celtics, Mitchell was lined up with guard Payton Pritchard. Going into the game, Pritchard was the Summer League’s sixth-leading scorer, averaging 20.3 points per game while shooting 51.4% from the field and 57.7% from behind the arc. He also scored 92 points at a Pro-Am in Portland just days before. When guarded by Mitchell, Pritchard finished with 4 points on 2-6 shooting from the field and 0-4 shooting behind the arc.

Then, in his first week of NBA action, Mitchell was tested in the toughest way possible having to go against some of the best guards in the league in Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, and Steph Curry. When guarded by Mitchell, the three superstars shot a combined 33% from the field. He most impressively forced Lillard to shoot 14% from the field.

Lo que mola un buen highlight de una acción defensiva como esta de Davion Mitchell (Sacramento Kings)pic.twitter.com/4ZYxX6A5cu

— David Sardinero (@davidsardinero) October 23, 2021

Mitchell has also provided some necessary offense off the bench for the Kings. His career-highs through 12 games are 22 points and 8 assists. For the season, Mitchell is currently averaging 10.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.

Davion Mitchell jump step back three point shot! NBA regular season game (11.05.2021) pic.twitter.com/QLChqtHZeg

— NBA BASKETBALL (@DejoseMark) November 6, 2021

As he continues to adjust to league play and becomes more comfortable, there is no telling good Mitchell can become. Like McNair said: “Davion is obviously a very special player.”

McNair was right about Haliburton and so far, it looks as though he made the right decision again when he chose Mitchell.

Filed Under: Kings

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • What was the best 49ers’ win the last five years?
  • Can you guess this 49ers QB in today’s in-5 trivia game?
  • Mike Florio lists 49ers as one of five legitimate NFC Super Bowl contenders
  • Willy Adames has got your back
  • Kraken sign forward Tye Kartye to a two-year, $2.5 million contract extension

Categories

  • 49'ers
  • A's
  • Earthquakes
  • Giants
  • Kings
  • Raiders
  • San Jose State
  • Sharks
  • Stanford
  • Uncategorized
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Warriers

Archives

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021

Our Partners

All Sports

  • San Francisco Chronicle
  • San Francisco Examiner
  • The Mercury News
  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • Forgotten 5
  • Golden Gate Sports
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • San Francisco Giants
  • Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - San Francisco Giants
  • MLB Trade Rumors - A's
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Giants
  • White Cleat Beat
  • Around The Foghorn
  • Athletics Nation
  • McCovey Chronicles

Basketball

  • Golden State Warriors
  • Sacramento Kings
  • A Royal Pain
  • Amico Hoops - Kings
  • Amico Hoops - Warriors
  • Blue Man Hoop
  • Golden State Of Mind
  • Hoops Hype - Warriors
  • Hoops Hype - Kings
  • Hoops Rumors - Warriors
  • Hoops Rumors - Kings
  • Lets Go Warriors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Golden State
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Sacramento
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Warriors
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Kings
  • Real GM - Warriors
  • Real GM - Kings
  • Sactown Royalty

Football

  • San Francisco 49ers
  • Las Vegas Raiders
  • 49ers Gab
  • Just Blog Baby
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors - San Francisco 49ers
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Las Vegas Raiders
  • Niners Nation
  • Niner Noise
  • Niners Wire
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors - 49ers
  • Pro Football Rumors - Raiders
  • Pro Football Talk - 49ers
  • Pro Football Talk - Raiders
  • Raiders Wire
  • Silver And Black Pride
  • Total 49ers

Hockey

  • Blades Of Teal
  • Fear The Fin
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Center Line Soccer
  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Busting Brackets
  • California Golden Blogs
  • College Sports Madness
  • College Football News
  • Rule Of Tree
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Daily Californian
  • The Stanford Daily
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in