The Miami Heat certainly mishandled the Jimmy Butler situation. However, in the process, they may have landed a key foundational piece.
As the details have continued to slowly trickle out, I'm not sure there's anyone who would argue there wasn't at least some mishandling of the Jimmy Butler situation by the Miami Heat. No matter what side you may have found yourself on, there's no question that both sides could've handled the situation better - including the Heat.
Once it was clear that the Heat wasn't going to be able to repair the relationship with Jimmy, the front office attempted to make lemonade out of lemons. It's what any good front office would do. They did so in the way of Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell, and a future first-round pick. While Wiggins and the pick will be viewed as the more notable pieces of the return for the Heat, the argument can be made that it's been Mitchell who has made the biggest impact on the team.
At this point, even though it's a relatively small sample size, the case can be made that the Heat may have stumbled into a potential foundational guard of the future through all of the Jimmy mess. That's how good - and promising - Mitchell has been for the Heat since his acquisition.
Davion Mitchell is a promising piece for the Miami Heat
In seven games played so far in Miami, Mitchell is averaging 10 points, four assists, and one steal per game on 55 percent shooting from the field and 46 percent shooting from 3-point range. He's also played exceptional point-of-attack defense for the team in the backcourt.
He's been everything that the Heat have needed in a backcourt partner next to Tyler Herro. Whether you believe that Herro should be a primary offensive option for a team or not, Mitchell and Herro have been an ideal 1-2 punch for the Heat. That's the type of complementary backcourt that most teams look for.
The fact that the Heat stumbled upon that in a very difficult situation should be considered a huge win for the front office. Whether Mitchell ends up being a full-time start for the Heat moving forward is quite irrelevant. At the very least, it does appear as if Miami has found a hidden gem via a player that was thrown in as somewhat of an afterthought in the deal.
Mitchell is the prototypical Miami Heat player and could just be scratching the surface of how good he can be for the team. At this point, re-signing Mitchell during the offseason should be a high priority for the team. In a pretty unlikely situation, the Heat may have done it again.