Heat guard Davion Mitchell will be entering restricted free agency this summer for the first time in his career. (Mandatory Credit: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
Davion Mitchell played the best basketball of his life in his short time with the Miami Heat, and now the 6-foot-1 guard could be looking to cash in on a career payday this summer.
Mitchell, 26, will be a restricted free agent this offseason. While Miami is expected to offer a qualifying offer (officially set at $8.7 million), allowing them to match any offer sheets he receives, the former top-10 pick could upwards of $14 million this offseason, over double his $6.5 million cap hit from last season, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.
“The Heat is expected to extend an $8.7 million qualifying offer to Mitchell before the June 29 deadline to make him a restricted free agent, allowing Miami to match outside offers in free agency to retain Mitchell,” Chiang wrote Friday. “If the Heat doesn’t extend that qualifying offer, Mitchell would become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and Miami would lose the power to always have an opportunity match outside offers.
“With Mitchell making $6.5 million this past season in the final year of his rookie-scale contract after getting drafted with the ninth overall pick in 2021, he could draw offers around the $14 million full midlevel exception range this summer.”
In 30 games with the Heat, Mitchell averaged 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game, shooting 50.4 percent from the floor and 44.7 percent from 3-point range across 31.6 minutes per game. He not only became one of Erik Spoelstra’s most reliable guards, but players entirely.
He eventually carried his late-season surge into the postseason, averaging 15.0 points and 6.3 assists on 61.0 percent shooting and 7-of-14 from 3-point range.
It’s worth mentioning that the aforementioned $14 million is similar to the full mid-level exception–projected to be at $14.1 million–that over-the-cap teams will have access to. However, using below the taxpayer’s portion ($5.7 million) will hard-cap teams below the first apron.
Miami, on the other hand, won’t need to use any of its exceptions to re-sign Mitchell, who they own full bird rights on. Though how it allocates every dollar matters, especially since Pat Riley has talked about the possibility of ducking under the luxury tax to avoid onerous repeater tax penalties.
Do you think Mitchell will be out of the Heat’s price range? Let us know in the comments!
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