When the Kings selected Davion Mitchell with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the fanbase began salivating at the thought of Baylor's defensive standout forming a potent three-guard lineup with De'Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton.
But the trio never got a chance to gel together and with the Kings' season in desperate need of a jolt, general manager Monte McNair broke up the group of young guards when he traded Haliburton along with Buddy Hield to the Indiana Pacers for Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb.
The trade stunned Kings fans and NBA fans alike, and sent shockwaves through the locker room.
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Nearly two months after the trade, Mitchell admitted to KHTK Sports 1140's Nick Cattles that everyone involved knew someone had to go in order for the Kings to thrive.
"At first, you look at it when you get to the draft, they drafted you because they think it can happen," Mitchell told Cattles on Thursday. "Throughout the season, I think all of us are guys who kind of need the ball to impact the game. For me, it's a defensive thing too. But at the offensive end, I'm not a guy who can run off pin-downs and spot up and shoot, it's more off ball-screens, just like De'Aaron Fox, just like Tyrese Haliburton.
"But you got to think there's only one ball out there and none of us are really guys who catch and shoot. Tyrese can and De'Aaron can from time to time but it's not what we're comfortable doing. So I think at some point, you had to realize one of us got to go, just because we've got to get something else, a guy who can score ... also make plays but not ball-dominant like us three guards are."
While Haliburton was caught off guard by the trade, he is playing well with the Pacers, averaging 16.6 points and 9.8 assists in 21 games. Those numbers are improvements over his production with the Kings.
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Mitchell also has benefited from the trade. Prior to the deal, he was averaging 10.3 points per game, but since Feb. 8, he has raised that number to 13.4. And with Fox out the last six games due to a hand injury, Mitchell is averaging an eye-popping 22 points per game.
"Davion's been put in a situation where he has become our primary ballhandler for 35 to 43 minutes a game, and so I think he has had his growing pains but he's also been in a situation where he has to make decisions and things like that," Kings interim coach Alvin Gentry told reporters Friday before the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. "The way you grow in this league is you go through those, you're successful in some and you fail in some areas. But as long as you're learning, which I think Davion has done a great job with that. He was struggling with his shot. Him and [assistant coach of player development] Rico [Hines] worked on a couple of things and he's shooting the ball much, much better now over the course of the last 10-12 games and I think that's how you grow and learn in this league."
Even though Fox has missed the last two weeks, he has been working with Mitchell and the rest of the Kings as the regular season winds down.
"It's been great," Gentry said. "De'Aaron's been around the whole time. Obviously, he's not playing right now but he's still an integral part of what we're doing because I think those guys understand the type of player he is and he's willing to try to help and try to help these guys grow and I think that's really important."
Overall for the season, Mitchell is shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from 3-point range. But during the last six games without Fox on the court, he has bumped those numbers up to 47 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from 3-point range.
Those improvements can be credited to Mitchell carrying more of the workload and the time he has put in his Hines to refine his game.
Before the 2021 draft, the scouting report on Mitchell is that he was always in the gym, trying to get better and Gentry, who has been a coach in the NBA since 1988, echoed all the pre-draft buzz about Off Night.
"I think he's already working on that," Gentry said regarding the work Mitchell has done on his jump shot. "With him, he went through a tough stretch where he wasn't shooting the ball very good at all and he worked on that and changed a couple of things as far as the trajectory of his shot and getting his legs involved a little more. And he's really improved in that area. I think he'll continue to work on it.
"Like I said, everybody gets up here and says 'He's the hardest worker I ever coached.' He is the hardest worker that I have ever coached and you almost have to protect him from himself because he'll be there every day before practice, every day after practice and come back at night. He's got to learn to come some of it off because of the minutes that he's playing."
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It was a hard decision for the Kings to break up the backcourt of Fox, Haliburton and Mitchell. But all three players have stepped up their game since the trade in early February. While Haliburton appeared to be the future leader of the team, that responsibility now rests with Fox and Mitchell, and they seem to be embracing the challenge.