Davion Mitchell leads the NBA at 9.2 assists a game with 29 turnovers, and no Heat player has ever averaged nine

Davion Mitchell leads the NBA at 9.2 assists a game through 12 games, and he has turned the ball over only 29 times while handing out 110 assists. On Friday he had 17 assists, 22 points and one turnover in the Heat’s 133-121 win over Cleveland, tying the career high he set with Sacramento on April 5, 2022.

No Heat player has averaged nine assists over a season. The franchise high is Tim Hardaway’s 8.6 in 1996-97, and Mitchell’s own best before this season was 6.5 last year, in his first full season in Miami.

DAVION MITCHELL TIED HIS CAREER-HIGH WITH 17 ASSISTS 🤯

🏀 22 PTS
🏀 17 AST
🏀 @MiamiHEAT East Group B win pic.twitter.com/skrptzMyxQ

— NBA (@NBA) November 14, 2026

The numbers through 12 games

• 110 assists and 29 turnovers, a 3.79 assist-to-turnover ratio. Among the 20 players averaging at least six assists in eight or more games, the next best is Toronto’s Jamal Shead at 3.24
• Behind him on the NBA.com leaderboard: Nikola Jokić at 9.0, Josh Giddey and Trae Young at 8.8 and Franz Wagner at 8.3
• 16.9 points on 49.7% shooting and 40.6% from three (28-of-69) in 36.0 minutes a game, all as a starter
• Seven games with 10 or more assists. He had 14 in 371 regular-season games over his first five seasons
• Miami is 5-2 when he reaches 10 assists and 1-4 when he does not, and the Heat have won three in a row to get to 6-6

Who he is passing to

Giannis Antetokounmpo, in his first season in Miami, has finished 32 of the 110 assists. Bam Adebayo has 23 and Klay Thompson 18, even though Thompson missed Friday’s game with a sore ankle.

Teammate	Baskets assisted by Mitchell
Giannis Antetokounmpo	32
Bam Adebayo	23
Klay Thompson	18
Andrew Wiggins	13
Bobby Portis	9
Pelle Larsson	7
Ryan Conwell	5
Others	3
Total	110

Game by game

Date	Opponent	Result	Minutes	Points	Assists	Turnovers
Oct. 21	vs. Timberwolves	L 131-106	33	11	11	5
Oct. 23	vs. Pistons	L 128-111	33	18	5	1
Oct. 24	at Hornets	L 115-110	37	22	10	2
Oct. 26	vs. Mavericks	L 113-109	33	21	2	4
Oct. 28	at Hawks	W 129-117	34	10	10	2
Oct. 30	vs. Pacers	W 145-125	35	15	11	3
Nov. 2	at Lakers	L 138-117	29	15	7	1
Nov. 4	at Clippers	W 117-116	43	11	10	1
Nov. 5	at Warriors	L 120-100	38	22	8	5
Nov. 8	at Kings	W 114-108	40	17	11	2
Nov. 10	at Jazz	W 115-109	38	19	8	2
Nov. 13	vs. Cavaliers	W 133-121	39	22	17	1
Total	6-6		432	203	110	29

Assist leaders who protected the ball

Over the last 10 seasons, only two assist leaders finished with a better ratio than Mitchell’s current 3.79: Chris Paul in 2021-22 and Tyrese Haliburton in 2023-24. Most leaders in that stretch turned it over four or more times a game.

Season	Leader	Team	Assists per game	Turnovers per game	Ratio
2016-17	James Harden	Rockets	11.2	5.7	1.95
2017-18	Russell Westbrook	Thunder	10.2	4.8	2.15
2018-19	Russell Westbrook	Thunder	10.7	4.5	2.41
2019-20	LeBron James	Lakers	10.2	3.9	2.62
2020-21	Russell Westbrook	Wizards	11.7	4.8	2.45
2021-22	Chris Paul	Suns	10.8	2.4	4.59
2022-23	James Harden	76ers	10.7	3.4	3.17
2023-24	Tyrese Haliburton	Pacers	10.9	2.3	4.73
2024-25	Trae Young	Hawks	11.6	4.7	2.48
2025-26	Nikola Jokić	Nuggets	10.7	3.7	2.87
2026-27 (12 games)	Davion Mitchell	Heat	9.2	2.4	3.79

A rare jump

Players do not often go from role-player passing numbers to nine a game this deep into a career. Since 1979-80, only three players with at least three prior seasons of 40 games reached nine assists a game over a full season after never averaging more than 6.5 before.

Season	Player	Team	Assists per game	Previous best
1985-86	Sleepy Floyd	Warriors	9.1	5.0 (1984-85)
1990-91	Michael Adams	Nuggets	10.5	6.4 (1988-89)
2021-22	Dejounte Murray	Spurs	9.2	5.4 (2020-21)
2026-27 (12 games)	Davion Mitchell	Heat	9.2	6.5 (2025-26)

Mitchell averaged 4.2 assists as a rookie in Sacramento, 2.3 and 1.9 in his next two seasons and 4.9 in 2024-25, the year he was traded to Miami.

What to watch

The Heat host the Pistons on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET (3 a.m. Sunday Cairo time). Detroit’s Cade Cunningham is sixth in the league at 7.9 assists a game. Mitchell had 5 assists and 1 turnover against the Pistons on Oct. 23. Leaders in every category are on the WhyNBA stats pages.