Raptors' Davion Mitchell displays defensive prowess in loss to Kings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When Davion Mitchell stepped off the Toronto Raptors' charter flight from Denver on Tuesday afternoon, he had one mission:

Make his way to Frank Fat’s, the legendary Chinese restaurant in downtown Sacramento and his favourite place to eat in the three seasons he spent here playing for the Kings. As soon as the Raptors finished their workout, he headed straight over and loaded up. 

“It was like three o’clock and I didn’t eat anything for the rest of the day after that,” said Mitchell. 

With his hunger vanquished, Mitchell could focus on the next task: Getting a win with the Raptors in Sacramento over the Kings — the team that drafted him ninth overall in 2021 but traded him in the off-season in part because he was stuck for playing time behind starting point guard De’Aaron Fox and, in part, because the Kings were looking for salary-cap relief after signing DeMar DeRozan to a three-year, $74-million deal. 

Well, Mitchell and the Raptors had to settle for one of two, as the Kings finally asserted themselves down the stretch of the fourth quarter for the 122-107 win Wednesday in what had been a tightly contested game for most of 48 minutes, which has been the Raptors habit of late. 

It was old friend DeRozan who closed the door, scoring 11 of his game-high 27 points in the final period as the Kings turned a five-point deficit with 11 minutes remaining into a 15-point advantage eight minutes later when he scored his final bucket with 2:33 to play. 

RJ Barrett led Toronto with 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting while Mitchell had a season-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and adding six assists against just one turnover. 

The loss dropped the Raptors' record to 2-7 and 0-2 with three games remaining on their five-game road trip. The Kings improved to 5-3. 

Injuries continue to be an issue for Toronto, which had rookies Ja'Kobe Walter and Jonathan Mogbo leave the game. Walter re-aggravated the shoulder injury that saw him miss all of training camp and the first five games of the regular season, but Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said that x-rays were negative and the rookie will be day-to-day. Mogbo suffered a hip pointer and was finished after 18 minutes but contributed five points, five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot.

The main difference statistically was at the free-throw line, as Sacramento made 28 of its 32 attempts and the Raptors were 11-of-17. Another issue: The Raptors surrendering 16 offensive rebounds while grabbing only eight themselves.  

“I think the key thing, obviously, was the free throws,” said Mitchell. We got to do a better job of that … we have to stop fouling. I mean, they made 28 free throws. It’s hard to win like that.”

The Raptors were working to get Mitchell another win against the Kings after they stole one on Saturday night in Toronto, and Mitchell certainly did his part. 

“It was expected, he played very well on both ends of the court,” said Barrett, of the Raptors' starting point guard of the moment. “I was just happy to see him play well coming back here to face his old team.”

In the same way the Kings couldn’t find room for Mitchell long-term, his ultimate fit with the Raptors is to be determined. He profiles as an effective backup and could play minutes alongside Immanuel Quickley in some lineups as well. Toronto had the option of offering him a contract extension before the season started but predictably chose to let the season play out first. Mitchell will still be a restricted free agent next summer and the Raptors would have the option to match any deal the 26-year-old might get offered. Meanwhile, if rookie Jamal Shead — who shares a lot of Mitchell’s attributes — develops into a viable back-up point guard, Mitchell might be on the move again. 

At the very least, Mitchell has been as advertised: A tenacious on-ball defender who can run a team well. His weakness has been, and continues to be, his shooting — he arrived in Sacramento connecting on just 41.8 per cent of his field goal attempts and 26.5 per cent from deep. 

It hasn’t been for lack of opportunity, with Quickley out with a back bruise suffered in the season opener. Wednesday was Mitchell’s eighth straight start, his longest stretch of starts since his rookie year with the Kings. 

How long he remains a starter will be seen soon enough, with Rajakovic saying that Quickley has begun the ramp-up process and may be available when the Raptors play in Los Angeles this weekend — Saturday against the Clippers and Sunday against the Lakers. 

But it’s quite possible that Mitchell’s contributions will be missed. 

It’s not a perfect measure of his effectiveness, but opposing point guards can’t hit a shot against the Raptors this season. As a group, they were shooting just 34.8 per cent from the floor against Toronto before Wednesday.

According to Basketball Index, Mitchell is a big reason. The analytics site has Mitchell rated as the best one-on-one perimeter defender in the NBA so far this season. 

The Raptors and the Kings played in Toronto on Saturday and Mitchell’s impact was significant. Fox shot just 8-of-22 from the floor in a game that Toronto won in overtime. 

Before the game, Kings head coach Mike Brown referred to Mitchell’s on-ball defence as his "superpower" and suggested that with all the ball-handlers on the Kings, he might even move Fox off the ball at times so he doesn’t have to butt heads with Mitchell on every possession, a strategy that played out for long stretches of the game in the early going.

But Mitchell is too wise to take too much credit when a guy who averaged 26.6 points a game last season has a tough night. 

“I mean, it's hard,” Mitchell said of covering his old teammate, pointing out that the Raptors caught the Kings on a second night of a back-to-back in Toronto. “He has everything. You just hope he doesn't get off to a hot start, because if he's hitting shots (it's) kind of tough, really tough, to guard him, because you got to kind of close the gap a little bit, and everyone knows about his speed. … So, I mean, hopefully we can get him to a struggling start and shooting ball.” 

Mitchell more than held his own. Coincidence or not, Fox had another tough night against his old teammate. He finished 5-of-17 from the floor and scored only one of those field goals with Mitchell as the primary defender. It came on a backdoor cut in the second quarter and Mitchell was visibly frustrated by it. 

“Yeah, he got me,” said Mitchell afterward. “I was sleeping.”

It doesn’t happen very often. The trust Rajakovic has in him was on display when Mitchell was subbed in for the Kings' last possession of the second half for the purpose of hounding Fox full-court. Mission accomplished, as Fox missed a tough shot in the lane at the horn. Mitchell grabbed the rebound and cradle-hugged the ball and roared in celebration as he walked back to the Raptors bench, accepting congratulations as he went. 

“His nickname is ‘Off Night’ for a reason,” said Barrett. “He’s a pest and he’s strong and he’s fast and he actually loves defence, and he really takes on that challenge every night. That’s definitely a plus to have on our side.”