Darrel Mitchell

Darrel Joseph Mitchell Jr. (born May 3, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played high school basketball at St. Martinville Senior High School in St. Martinville, Louisiana, and was named Louisiana Mr. Basketball as a senior in 2002. He then played college basketball with the LSU Tigers, staying for 4 years and reaching the NCAA Tournament Final Four in 2006. After going undrafted in the 2006 NBA draft, Mitchell started a professional career in Europe with Turkish team Galatasaray. He participated in the 2007–08 Euroleague with Lithuanian team Lietuvos rytas. He has played in Belgium, Cyprus, France, Lithuania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

High school career Mitchell was born in New Iberia, Louisiana and attended St. Martinville Senior High School in St. Martinville, where his father Darrel Sr. was the head coach. As a sophomore, Mitchell was named in the all-district first team after averaging 22.2 points per game. In his junior year he averaged 21 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2.4 steals per game, and he was named Class 4A MVP; Mitchell was invited to participate in the ABCD Camp, a camp for the best high school players in the US, in July 2001, the summer that preceded his senior year.

Mitchell's senior season saw average 24.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.9 steals per game, shooting 41% from three. Mitchell won the state 4A championship with the team, which posted a 36–4 record for the season. In his career at St. Martinville, Mitchell scored over 2,000 career points In 2007, St. Martinville High School retired his jersey number, 22.

In his sophomore season, Mitchell received increased playing time at 30.4 minutes per game, and started 17 of his 29 games, being advanced to the starting lineup in the second half of the season, during which he scored in double figures in 9 of his 12 final games. He was the third best scorer on the team with an 11.9 average, behind senior Jaime Lloreda and freshman Brandon Bass. He also improved his assists average, which rose to 2.9, the second best mark on the team behind Tack Minor's 4.6 per game. On November 26, 2005 Mitchell scored a game winner against West Virginia, and reached the 1,000 points mark. He then scored 16 against Texas A&M, and he also made the game-winning three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in the game. Mitchell's 1,322 minutes in 2005–06 were the 3rd best mark in a single season in LSU history. In September 2007 he joined Lietuvos rytas, a team in Vilnius, Lithuania, and he had the chance to play in the Euroleague. In the 2007–08 edition he appeared in 7 games, averaging 2.4 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists. After being released by Rytas, Mitchell signed with French Pro A team Élan Chalon, and played 16 games in the French top league, averaging 13.5 points and 5.3 assists per game. He also appeared during the 2007–08 ULEB Cup with Chalon, and averaged 14.8 points and 7.8 assists over 4 games.

In 2008 he joined AEL Limassol in Cyprus, playing during the 2008–09 FIBA EuroChallenge. In 19 games he averaged 10.7 points and 3.7 assists while shooting 39.3% from three. He also appeared in 9 games of the Cyprus Basketball Division A. For the following season he signed for Khimik of the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague, and he appeared in 25 games, averaging 17.7 points and 5.4 assists, with a 3-point field goal percentage of 42.4%. He then left in April 2010 and joined B.C. Oostende, appearing in 5 games of the Belgian Pro Basketball League regular season, and then in 3 playoff games (10 points, 3.3 assists). He stayed with Oostende also for the 2010–11 season, during which he played 29 regular season games and 3 playoff games. He also took part in the 2010–11 FIBA EuroChallenge with the Belgian side.

In 2011 he signed again with Khimik, and played a full SuperLeague season (37 games, 17.1 points and 6 assists per game), and appeared with the team during the 2011–12 FIBA EuroChallenge. In 2012 he joined another Ukrainian team, Politekhnika-Halychyna, and stayed for one and a half season there. In December 2013 he transferred to Donetsk, and over 5 games he averaged 9.4 points and 3.2 assists per game. He then left Ukraine in March 2014 and signed for Pieno žvaigždės in Lithuania: he had a brief stint with the team (6 games in the LKL and 2 in the playoffs). He went back to France for the 2014–15 Pro A season: he played 7 Pro A games with the team before moving to Pro B team AS Monaco, where he ended the season: in 26 appearances he averaged 14.2 points and 5.9 assists. Monaco gained the promotion to Pro A at the end of the year, and Mitchell stayed in Monaco, playing 21 games during the 2015–16 Pro A season.

In 2016 Mitchell joined German side Oettinger Rockets: he played the first season in the ProA, the second level of German basketball (9.1 points, 3.2 assists) and the second season in the Basketball Bundesliga (11 games, 7.3 points, 3.3 assists per game). In 2018 he played 20 games in the Russian Basketball Super League 1, the second tier of Russian basketball, with Spartak Primorye, winning the league title.