The Sacramento Kings handled business on Monday evening as they took care of the New Orleans Pelicans, 123-108. Mike Brown and his group came in short-handed as De’Aaron Fox was unable to play in this one.
Fox, the Kings starting point guard, made his first career all-star team this season and has been among the NBA’s most clutch players all year long. Usually, missing a player of his caliber is going to be nearly impossible for a team to overcome.
On this night, the Kings saw multiple players step up to combine for the offensive production that they wouldn’t be getting without Fox. Second-year point guard Davion Mitchell, who drew the start with Fox out, was one of the Kings that stepped up in a big, big way.
Kings get contributions from everyone, especially Davion Mitchell
Domantas Sabonis recorded another triple-double in the win over the Pelicans while Kevin Huerter led the Kings in scoring, finishing with 25 points while shooting 6-10 from behind the arc. Mike Brown and his coaching staff must have been pleased with the all-around performance they got from the entire roster to help cover for the scoring they’d be missing in this one.
No performance was any bigger than that of Davion Mitchell in this win. The young guard has always been a menace on defense but has sometimes struggled to find his game on the offensive end of the floor.
Against the Pelicans, he brought it on both ends and by the end of the game he had a very strong and complete point guard performance to show. Mitchell had 15 points and 6 assists. Most importantly, he only turned the ball over once and shot an efficient 6-8 from the field.
Mitchell was seeing things as a point guard must throughout the game. That much was proven by Mike Brown after the win when he said Mitchell waved him off a few times during the game. Brown added that every time he did that Mitchell was making the correct call.
Mike Brown is proud of the growth he's seeing in Davion's game 🙌 pic.twitter.com/CDeKidJbTf
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) March 7, 2023
That kind of confidence, not to mention awareness, will go a long way for both Mitchell individually and the Kings as a team. The more he grows his game the more dangerous he becomes as a weapon.
Hopefully, this will begin a trend where we see Mitchell become a more dangerous player on the offensive end of the court. That would make him the perfect long-term player to bring off the bench behind the combination of Fox and Huerter.