NBA Mock Draft 2.0: Wolves trade down, Warriors surprise?

NBA Mock Draft: Washington Wizards take Davion Mitchell at #10

The Washington Wizards are the strangest team in basketball. They have two stars, right? Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook are good. They have some interesting surrounding pieces in Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija, and Davis Bertans.

But they still suck! Okay, well, maybe not through the month of April, but the Wizards are still barely in the play-in tournament in the weaker of the two conferences. Things just are not where they should be.

Selecting Davion Mitchell certainly won’t fix that, but it will give them a rotational combo-guard that can score, facilitate, and defend at a high level. The ceiling almost certainly isn’t high for Mitchell, but he was impressive enough at Baylor this past season for him to be a lottery pick this year, according to some – and the Wizards bench has been downright horrendous the past several seasons.

The Wizards have Davis Bertans, Daniel Gafford, Ish Smith, Robin Lopez, and Chandler Hutchison currently getting minutes. Again, Davion Mitchell is not fixing that, but he will certainly help some of the issues that plague the Wizards. He’s a very solid secondary ball-handler for when Russell Westbrook is out of the game and is good enough off-ball to play alongside him in the minutes that Beal needs rest.

Whoever this pick is, they need to have the ability to handle the ball. I have paired the Wizards with Scottie Barnes a lot throughout this draft cycle because his defensive ability is much needed for Washington. He, also, can act as the offensive facilitator when needed. But in this scenario, he’s not available.