MIAMI — While the Miami Heat shook up its roster by trading for guard Norman Powell at the start of this week, the free agency of guard Davion Mitchell provided very little drama.

After arriving in Miami as part of the midseason February Jimmy Butler trade, Mitchell thrived with the Heat in the final months of this past season before becoming a restricted free agent this summer.

But Mitchell never truly tested the market, instead agreeing to a new deal worth $24 million over two seasons to return to the Heat before league-wide free agency negotiations were even allowed to begin. The Heat received a commitment from Mitchell on June 28 during the window for NBA teams to begin negotiating with their own impending free agents before free agents could start meeting with outside teams on June 30.

“I just wanted to do what was best for me and my family, obviously,” Mitchell said to reporters of his decision to re-sign with the Heat during a Tuesday appearance at Jr. Heat Basketball Camp at SLAM! Miami charter school. “But I wanted to be here, I wanted to keep playing here, especially because I didn’t have that many months here. I got traded in February, so I wanted to see what I could do for this team and what we can do as an organization.”

Mitchell’s contract does not include any options, with the money fully guaranteed on a deal that will pay him $11.6 million this upcoming season and $12.4 million for the 2026-27 season. He signed his new contract on Monday.

This is the biggest contract of Mitchell’s NBA career. Mitchell, who turns 27 on Sept. 5, made $6.5 million last season in the final year of his rookie-scale contract.

“I’m just excited to be back here with this group of guys, with this coaching staff, with this organization. It’s completely different from the places I’ve been in,” said Mitchell, who was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2021 draft and spent the first three seasons of his NBA career with the Kings before spending part of last season with the Toronto Raptors and eventually being traded to the Heat. “They really take winning seriously here and I respect that, and I’m excited to be here.”

What makes the Heat different from other teams Mitchell has played for?

“One, coach [Erik Spoelstra] is one of the greatest coaches of all time,” Mitchell said. “So just learning from him, just asking questions, you won’t get any better answers from anybody else, I think. And just my teammates, my teammates wanted me here, they embraced me here, they wanted me to be myself. If I can be somewhere and be myself, I know I can be the best player I can be.”

Based on the way that Mitchell played with the Heat after arriving in Miami midway through last season, that immediate support from his teammates and the organization really did seem to help elevate his game.

Mitchell averaged 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 50.4% from the field and 44.7% on 3.1 3-point attempts per game in 30 regular-season appearances (15 starts) for the Heat. Mitchell averaged just 6.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 43.4% from the field and 35.9% on threes in 44 appearances for the Raptors prior to being traded to the Heat last season.

Mitchell carried that late-season momentum into the postseason, totaling nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range in overtime of the Heat’s playoff-clinching win over the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament on April 18. He then went on to start in three of the Heat’s four playoff games during Miami’s first-round sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Mitchell’s efficient outside shooting with the Heat proved to be a revelation, as he entered this past season as a 32.7 percent 3-point shooter over his first three NBA seasons.

That reputation led to opponents consistently leaving Mitchell open from 3-point range, but he took advantage by shooting 37 of 76 (48.7%) on wide open 3s (defined by the NBA as when the closest defender is more than six feet away) with the Heat last regular season.

But Mitchell’s calling card is still his on-ball defense. Known as “off night” for his ability to shut down opposing teams’ top scorers, Mitchell’s point-of-attack defense immediately helped the Heat and made him a fan favorite in Miami.

The Heat allowed 3.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with Mitchell on the court compared to when he wasn’t playing after the February trade.

“I think it’s the Heat culture thing,” Mitchell said when asked why he thinks he was able to quickly win over Heat fans. “They embrace playing really hard and I think that’s what I bring to the game every single game, every moment of the game, I’m playing hard until the last second. So they just love players who just go out there and give it their all.”

Now, Mitchell hopes a full offseason and training camp with the Heat help him and the team produce even better results next season.

“It’s going to be good for me and the team, just the chemistry that we can build,” Mitchell said. “We won a couple games, we even made it to the playoffs with very little chemistry, especially with injuries and just getting traded here. So we didn’t really know how to jell with one another. I feel like we kind of figured it out a little bit.

“But to have a training camp with one another, just to go at each other, just to learn from one another, spend time outside of basketball with each other, I think is going to build a lot of team chemistry.”

The addition of Powell, who produced All-Star-caliber numbers and averaged a career-high 21.8 points per game on 48.4% shooting from the field and 41.8% percent shooting from 3-point range for the Los Angeles Clippers last season, should also help the Heat. Miami traded center Kevin Love and forward Kyle Anderson to acquire Powell in a three-team deal with the Clippers and Utah Jazz that was finalized on Monday.

“First of all, he’s won a championship before,” Mitchell said when asked how Powell can help the Heat, referring to the NBA title that Powell won with the Raptors in 2019. “So he’s been there, he’s been through the thick and the thin and he’s been around really good teammates. He played with a really good team. He’s a winning player, he plays both sides of the ball, he can score with the best of them. He kind of does it all. Even if he’s not shooting the ball well, he can disrupt defensively. So you want guys like that on the floor that can help you win like that.”

The weeks and months ahead will be spent preparing for his first Heat training camp and the upcoming season. But Mitchell spent part of Tuesday sharing a moment with young campers at Jr. Heat Basketball Camp.

“I’m excited to be around the kids just to give them that different aspect of being around an NBA player,” Mitchell said. “I never had the chance to be around an NBA player. So just to be around them, ask questions, just to see them play, just to see them have fun. It’s just a joy to see the kids have fun, for sure.”

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