Warriors v. Kings Preview: Steph Curry and Davion Mitchell
As the Golden State Warriors look to finish up their California matchups at 3-0 to start the season, they’ll be traveling a few hours north to face the Sacramento Kings. The big story surrounding Sacramento this season has been 9th overall pick Davion Mitchell, an undersized point guard out of Baylor who was widely touted as possibly the best perimeter defender in the draft. Mitchell, fresh off an NCAA championship with Baylor after defeating number 5 overall pick Jalen Suggs and Gonzaga, has made an instant impact in the NBA, checking some of the best perimeter scorers in the game already.
According to Bleacher Report, Mitchell held Mike Conley, CJ McCollum, Donovan Mitchell, and Damian Lillard to a combined 25.9% shooting from the field when he was the primary defender on them. He has an already-famous clip of him ripping the ball from Donovan Mitchell on a drive to the rim, something we’ll likely see for years to come. While all of the aforementioned players are All-Star caliber, some even All-NBA, Mitchell will face an early season test that could indicate just how good this kid could be: defending Steph Curry. While players like Lillard have been compared to him in the past, the league’s been put back on notice to Curry’s skill and capabilities that they had forgotten about when he gave up touches to Kevin Durant. He’s in a tier of his own, the greatest point guard currently in the NBA and possibly all time. In preparation for his matchup with Curry, Davion Mitchell told The Athletic's Anthony Slater a little about his approach:
“Steph is not a guy who is iso ball. He’s always off the ball, and there’s things I need to work on with off-the-ball defense. So I’m gonna be chasing him all night. I just can’t fall asleep on him.”
While Curry versus Mitchell is certainly going to drum up some hype with how the 9th pick has been playing, another interesting storyline to take note of was the Warriors considering drafting Mitchell with the number 7 pick, ultimately used on Jonathan Kuminga. Slater reports that the Warriors took a long look at Mitchell but ultimately went a different direction, and he was off the board by the time they picked again at 14. It’s obviously far too early to tell whether that was the right call or not, with Kuminga missing time due to a knee strain and Mitchell still adjusting to being a short guy in the NBA, but early indications of Davion’s great defense and misfiring offense would probably make it a wash as of now.
Mitchell’s teammates have some pretty high praise for his ball-hawking skill and work ethic off the rip, with Buddy Hield saying he might be the best defender in the league per Slater, but tonight’s game should give us some insight to either just how good he is, or just how unstoppable Steph is. The Warriors and Kings play at 6pm Pacific, at the Golden One Center in Sacramento as the Dubs look to clean up a messy 2-0 start and stay undefeated.
(Photo credit: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)