MIAMI – With the Miami Heat looking to reach their ceiling led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, other pieces on the team will be vital if the franchise wants to reach new heights this season. One example of the Heat being a dangerous force in the NBA came in Friday night's 133-121 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, as aside from the two star big men, point guard Davion Mitchell played a pivotal role.

Sure, Antetokounmpo and Adebayo each recorded 37 points and collected 23 rebounds between the two of them, but Mitchell was a key engine in the offense. The 28-year-old scored 22 points on seven of 14 shooting from the field and three of seven from deep, but it was the whopping 17 assists that stood out in the stat sheet, as it tied his career-high from his rookie year with the Sacramento Kings.

Heat's Bam Adebayo believes Davion Mitchell deserves NBA award

The 17 assists are tied for second-most in a game by a Miami player with Goran Dragic in 2016 and Sherman Douglas in 1990, with the No. spot belonging to Tim Hardaway Sr. with 18 in 1996. While the 17 assists were impressive, Mitchell has been effective all season as the team's primary point guard and a defensive force.

Averaging the most minutes on the team with 36 per game, he's also recorded 16.9 points and 9.2 assists per contest while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from three-point range. Through 10 games, Mitchell has figured it out, leading to Adebayo saying after Friday's win that Mitchell should get the award for the NBA's Most Improved Player (MIP).

“Davion [Mitchell], I want him to get the Most Improved [Player award] for sure,” Adebayo said. “Davion is making great reads. He’s done a great job of making the game easier for all of us…. This is showing all the work he put in all summer. It’s good to see him be in shape and really be himself.”

Bam Adebayo wants Davion Mitchell to get Most Improved Player. Also wants himself, Giannis, and Davion to be either first team or second team All-Defense. #Heat pic.twitter.com/WgRvdsbNeO

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) November 14, 2026

If there was another aspect of Mitchell's performance that was impressive aside from the 17 assists, it was that the guard had just one turnover. Last season, Mitchell's assist-to-turnover ratio ranked among the best in the NBA, so it's no doubt encouraging to see the outing, with Antetokounmpo applauding his teammate.

“Incredible, 17 assists,” Antetokounmpo said. “The most impressive thing is one turnover. That’s insane. He keeps making the right play, setting the tone, knocking down shots. He’s pretty much doing everything for us. He stepped his game up this year big time.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo calls Davion Mitchell’s performance “incredible,” says its “insane” that he had 17 assists and just one turnover. #Heat pic.twitter.com/uPU6LxNSnW

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) November 14, 2026

Heat's Erik Spoelstra on the “progression” of Davion Mitchell

There's no denying that Mitchell came into this season with a purpose, working diligently in the summer to improve and gain chemistry with Antetokounmpo and Adebayo. Subsequently, head coach Erik Spoelstra noticed the change in his shape heading into the year.

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“Well, he's in fantastic shape,” Mitchell said to ClutchPoints before Saturday night's game against the Pistons. “Really, by early summer, he had really started working on it. And in the year and a half before that, with us, he had shown the flashes that he could do a lot of these types of things; it was just about having more endurance, more stamina, to be able to make more plays and impose his speed and quickness and physicality on the game.”

“And I just think you're seeing a progression,” Spoelstra continued. “Those at the end of the first year, we had those two playing games where he was fantastic for us, and then the next year, last year, you know, he had moments where he was really good, and now he's just able to sustain that. And we want to have guys run with him. He's fast with the ball, and he's unselfish. He wants to set guys up.”

Right now, Mitchell is third with +1000 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook to win the NBA MIP for the 2026-27 season. Mitchell emphasized that his job is to feed his teammates the ball and get them into rhythm, and he's doing that thus far, as it remains to be seen if Adebayo's request for the guard to be MIP will come to fruition.