Stats 24/25: 5.9 points (52.6% shooting) 1.8 assists, 1.6 rebounds
Unlike his “model“Toumani Camara who already had a season under his belt, Ajay Mitchell had still everything to prove last October, when he began his romance with the NBA.
Arriving in an ultra-ambitious OKC team which was already dripping with talent from everywhere, the Liégeois incredibly quickly knew how to carve out a place in the sun. Impressive in his accuracy and maturity in the Summer League, he caught the eye of his coach, Mark Daigneault who immediately trusted him.
And if his playing time was initially poor (7 minutes for his first match), Mitchell subsequently seized the slightest opportunity that presented itself to him, to the point of grabbing minutes after the match.
Used off the bench by his coach, the Belgian has only fallen below the 10-minute mark twice since. Most of the time, his playing time therefore fluctuates around 15 minutes, leaving him free rein to score points… literally and figuratively.
Combo-guard in line with modern ultra-versatile playmakers/backs, Mitchell is already an exceptional manager. The kind of guy who doesn’t force anything and who intelligently lets the game come to him, even if it means waiting before a breach opens.
Ultra mature and impressively sober given his lack of experience, he completed nine of his 18 matches at 50% shooting… or more. At three points, he is also the 3rd most precise rookie of the vintage (50%!).
11th best passing rookie (1.8 per game), Mitchell has already become a more than credible solution coming off the bench in OKC. On several occasions, he was the player of the “second Unit” the most used by the Thunder. Given the competition, it was far from guaranteed at the start of the season.
And that’s perhaps the most impressive thing: Mitchell hasn’t just made his mark in the NBA. He did it with incredible speed on a team where the competition on the backcourt was, on paper, insane. Hats off. “He is impressive” says his coach, Mark Daigneault, about him. Impressive and increasingly comfortable. As we write these lines, Mitchell is coming off his best career performance: 15 points at 6/8 shooting , proof that he still has something under his belt. Let’s hope it lasts.
