This Raptors guard's bold social media move demands a strong turnaround

Davion Mitchell is mindful of his critics, but now he must prove them wrong on the court
Indiana Pacers v Toronto Raptors
Indiana Pacers v Toronto Raptors / Mark Blinch/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

Without a doubt, Davion Mitchell was an outstanding addition for the Toronto Raptors this past offseason.

Toronto successfully flipped a troubling asset in forward Jalen McDaniels for a quality, defensive-minded player like Mitchell, all while adding another promising guard in Jamal Shead. This move represents a significant feather in the cap for Masai Ujiri and his team at the Raptors front office.

Throughout his short time with the Raptors, Davion Mitchell has delivered some impressive performances for the team, whether he’s been placed in the starting lineup or coming off the bench.

That said, it's important to note that Mitchell is currently enduring a challenging stretch of back-to-back games for the Toronto Raptors, negatively impacting them with his offensive struggles and careless turnovers.

Davion Mitchell hasn't look great as of late

On November 24, Davion Mitchell struggled with tunnel vision against the Cleveland Cavaliers, leading to six turnovers. His stat line of six points and three assists did little to compensate for the costly mistakes he made, and his -10 plus/minus reflected that.

The Raptors then went up against the Pistons on November 25, with Mitchell stepping in as the starting replacement for the inactive Gradey Dick. However, his performance was once again far from impactful.

Although turnovers would be kept to a minimum, Mitchell managed to go 1-for-7 from the field, resulting in a desolate 14% shooting performance.

Every player experiences rough patches from time to time, and it’s highly likely that Davion Mitchell will refine his game and bounce back to peak performance. He certainly earned the nickname "Off-Night" for good reason. When he’s at his defensive best, Mitchell's opponents struggle to perform at their usual level.

Fans have the luxury of freely expressing themselves on social media, and you can bet that when one of their own isn't meeting expectations, a rowdy pack is always ready to pounce on a player's shortcomings.

Well, the man himself has taken note of numerous slanderous comments circulating on X, as Davion Mitchell retweeted several hate tweets from his detractors.

In what can only be seen as a motivational tactic, Mitchell openly confronted his doubters by maintaining a public record of their comments, with the sole aim of proving them wrong in a significant way.

Clearly, online hate can be demoralizing in any context, but just as easily as someone can tear another down, there's also the opportunity to turn things around swiftly. No matter how mentally tough Mitchell is as both a player and a person, this social media power move demands a statement comeback and nothing less.

The ball is in Davion Mitchell's court to shut the critics down

For the benefit of both his psyche and the Raptors' upcoming stretch of games, they will need Davion Mitchell to step up and advocate for significant playing time. Mitchell has proven throughout the season that it's definitely possible, but the margin for error will continue to diminish with each lackluster performance.

Moreover, the social media narrative is already turning against him, making it imperative for Mr. Off-Night to turn his bad luck in favor of his competition.

feed