With the 2025 NBA playoffs now just mere weeks away, the Miami Heat have found themselves in a relatively new (and troubling) spot: on the outside looking in for this year's postseason picture.
The 33-41 Heat are currently tied for ninth in the Eastern Conference with the Chicago Bulls. Miami is six games ahead of the 11th place Toronto Raptors and 2.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks, who currently hold the eighth seed in the East.
While they're no strangers to the NBA postseason play-in, Miami has never finished outside the top eight in its conference since the aforementioned mini-tournament was established in 2020. The Heat will need someone to step up and provide a spark if they want any hope of making a run in this year's playoffs -- and Davion Mitchell may just be that player.
Mitchell started the 2024-25 season with the Toronto Raptors. He landed in South Florida this past February as part of the five-team trade that sent ex-Heat cornerstone Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors.
The last seven weeks have been anything but smooth for Miami, including a 10-game losing streak in March that saw the Heat teetering on the brink of even missing the play-in. But one thing -- or rather, one person -- has remained as consistent as ever despite all these recent hardships: the 26-year-old guard from Baylor University.
In the month of March alone, Mitchell has averaged 9.4 points per game on an efficient 48.6% clip from the field. He has also racked up 5.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game in this span.
Meanwhile, Miami has seemingly regained its footing following its historic losing skid. The team has won four games in a row in the last week, with Mitchell cracking double-figure scoring in three of them.
Even if they make it out of the play-in, a long road lies ahead for a Heat squad looking to emerge from the shadow of Jimmy Butler and a tumultuous few months. They've proven that they can do it before, but if this year's squad wants to spark another miracle run, players like Mitchell will have to step up like never before.
