Davion Mitchell got right to work endearing himself to Kings fans, as the No. 9 overall draft pick won co-MVP of the Las Vegas Summer League and helped Sacramento win the championship in Sin City.
Mitchell will be joining Tyrese Haliburton and De'Aaron Fox in what the Kings hope will be a three-headed monster in the backcourt next season, as the team looks to utilize a number of three-guard sets to get the trio on the floor together. Haliburton and Fox spoke to the media ahead of Kings media day, and discussed how Mitchell has impressed his new teammates so far.
"I think my biggest takeaway is just how hard he works," Haliburton said of Mitchell. "I'm sure you guys have seen an article or read or whatever that they had to tell him that he can't be in here. But he really is here all the time, he lives here it seems like. And that's a great trait to have, and I think he works so hard that it's no surprise why he's where he is and has had the success he's had in his basketball career.
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"So that's refreshing for me to see a guy working like that, it makes me work harder, and I hope everybody sees that and it works that way for everybody."
"He's good at anticipating things, he's quick, strong, and then offensively, it goes both ways for him, he uses his strength and his quickness on both sides of the ball, he just has really good instincts," Fox told reporters Monday.
RELATED: Kings' Mitchell wins co-MVP of Las Vegas Summer League
Mitchell was considered one of, if not the best individual backcourt defender in the 2021 NBA Draft, and a Kings team that finished with the second-worst defensive rating in league history (116.5) desperately needs eager defenders.
NBA
Any player who has to be told he needs to spend less time at the facility is someone you want to have in your building.
If that hard work can translate to the regular season, the Kings could have a fantastic young triumvirate that could spur the franchise to snap a 15-year NBA playoff drought.