Tony Mitchell is an American-born professional basketball player who spent most of his career abroad. He last played for the Puerto Rican club, Leones de Ponce in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) in 2021.
Although the Detroit Pistons selected him in the 2013 draft, Tony played only around one season in the NBA. As he failed to impress people with his performance, he ventured into foreign leagues in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the Philippines, etc.
Before his professional league debut, he played college basketball for the North Texas Mean Green. While in North Texas, people viewed him as one of the top prospects.
Contrary to popular prediction, his professional career could not be as fruitful as it seemed. It has already been around eight seasons since he began professional league games, but he has never stayed with any club for more than a season.
Nevertheless, one should not undervalue his basketball skills as he has shown that he is a capable power forward multiple times. He led the Taipei Fubon Braves to the Taiwan League championship win in 2019.
Moreover, Tony has won a few individual honors and awards as well.
We will discuss his life and career along with some exciting information in this article below. But before diving into the details, let’s check out some quick facts.
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
Full Name | Tony LaShae Mitchell Jr. |
Known As | Tony Mitchell |
Date of Birth | April 7, 1992 |
Birth Place | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the USA |
Nick Name | Not available |
Religion | Christianity |
Nationality | American |
Ethnicity | African-American |
Zodiac Sign | Aries |
Age | 30 years old |
Height | 2.01 m (6 feet 7 inches) |
Weight | 235 lb (107 kg) |
Hair Color | Black |
Eye Color | Black |
Build | Athletic |
Father’s Name | Tony L. Mitchell Sr. |
Mother’s Name | Angie L. Mitchell |
Siblings | Antonio Mitchell |
Education |
|
Marital Status | Unknown |
Sexual Orientation | Straight |
Wife’s Name | Not available |
Kid’s Names | Hayden, Tony III, Prince, Jaxson, Dio |
Profession | Basketball player |
NBA Draft | 2013 / Round: 2 / 37th pick overall |
Position | Power forward |
League |
|
Active Years | (2013 – Present) |
Net Worth | $1-$2 million |
Recent Club | Leones de Ponce |
Jersey Number (Recent) | 95 |
Social Media | |
Merch | Basketball Card |
Last Update | July 2022 |
Early Life, Family & Education
Tony Mitchell was born on April 7, 1992, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. He is the eldest son of Tony Sr. (father) and Angie Mitchell (mother). Besides, he has a younger brother named Antonio in the family.
Upon his birth, his parents named him Tony LaShae Mitchell Jr., but he later became known as Tony Mitchell among his friends and fans.
When they were small, his family moved to Dallas, Texas, and settled there permanently. Then, he attended the L.G. Pinkston High School in West Dallas, where he studied until his graduation in 2011.
Tony has been very athletic and playful since he was a kid. So, he grew up playing basketball from a very young age. He showed proficiency in the sport early on, so his parents too encouraged him to pursue it as they saw immense possibility in him.
Consequently, he progressed from his middle school team to his high school basketball team before joining the University of North Texas for his higher studies.
He took up Sociology for his Bachelor’s degree but did not complete his education as he dropped out of the college just after two years.
Tony Mitchell | Basketball Career
High School Career
His game from his freshman season for the Dutchtown High School in Atlanta had earned him widespread praises from the spectators. After that, he played for the Center of Life Christian Academy (CLCA) in Miami.
He always believed he had much to learn, so he spent much time practicing shots and dunks on his school court.
He played for around two seasons for the CLCA, but he later learned that his time with them would not guarantee NCAA eligibility. Consequently, he transferred back to L.G. Pinkton and averaged 20.5 points and 13.2 rebounds in his senior season.
He was a leading scorer for his team in the Class 4A Region II Tournament that season. For his fantastic performance, Rivals.com ranked him the 12th best senior recruit in the class of 2010.
Similarly, Mitchell earned several honors, including the Dallas Morning News Player of the Year, leaving behind Perry Jones from Duncanville. He was named to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star team in 2010.
College Career
Mitchell had initially intended to play college basketball for the Missouri Tigers, but his plan failed because of the NCAA eligibility issues. He missed the 2010-11 season for the same reason.
He eventually chose to play for the North Texas Mean Green men in 2011. However, his first college season made him forget all the hurdles he faced while newly joining the college.
As a redshirt freshman, Mitchell finished the season with an average of 14.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. He was the only freshman to record a double-double in NCAA Division I that season, besides Anthony Davis.
Various popular sports agencies and analysts had projected that he would be among the first-round picks in the 2012 draft if he went for it that year, but he decided to stay in North Texas for his sophomore season.
Professional Career
Career in America
The Detroit Pistons selected Mitchell with the 37th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft. With that pick, he became the first North Texas alum to get drafted after John Horrocks back in 1984.
Tony signed a rookie-scaled contract with the Pistons on July 19, 2013. Even though there was some hype about his NBA entry, the club offered him significantly less playtime in his rookie season.
Playing only 21 matches, he averaged 1.0 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. Apart from NBA regular season matches, he played for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Grand Rapids Drive in the minor league until 2014.
He also stayed briefly with the Phoenix Suns in late 2014 before moving abroad to try his luck in foreign leagues.
Foreign League Career
Tony signed with the Puerto Rican club, Atletico de San German, on February 5, 2015, and set off overseas for his first foreign league appearance. After playing for around eight months in the BSN League, he returned to America.
However, his stay in the home country did not last long, as he stayed with the Golden State Warriors for only a month. Then, he traveled across various countries playing in foreign leagues such as the Venezuelan league, Chinese NBL, Israeli Liga Leumit, etc., until 2017.
Moreover, he had a brief stint with the Star Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association and Metros de Santiago of the Dominican league LNB in 2017.
He won his first and only league championship with the Taipei Fubon Braves when they lifted the Taiwanese league in 2019.
Awards & Achievements
Some of his awards and achievements include:
- Taiwan League champion (2019)
- Sun Belt Freshman of the Year (2012)
- Second-team All-Sun Belt (2013)
- First-team All-Sun Belt (2012)
- Gold medal at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship (2010)
- Texas 12-4A Player of the Year (2010)
- Texas Class 4A All-State (2010)
Tony Mitchell | Net Worth & Earnings
One of the most unfortunate basketball athletes, Tony Mitchell, has a net worth ranging from $1 million to $2 million. Even though a few websites mention it to be $1.5 million, the exact amount is debatable.
Anyways, the player has mainly made money through league games. He had started his professional league journey with the NBA club, Detroit Pistons, for the 2013-14 season, for which they paid around $490k.
He joined the Phoenix Suns the following season for a one-year contract worth around $816k, but they released him before playing any games.
Despite his brief time in the NBA, he collected little over $1 million from the league.
His salary in the NBA G League was minimal, so he played for foreign league clubs for most of his life.
His earnings from the foreign leagues are unknown but seeing his lifestyle, one can confirm that he has earned a considerable amount of money through basketball games.
Tony Mitchell | Personal Life
The basketball player is not very comfortable talking deeply about his personal life when revealing such information to the media. In addition, he did not get enough media exposure as he mostly played games outside America.
However, we have acquired some information about his personal life from his social media posts. He has around five kids from different women.
He had posted them on his Insta handle on March 8, giving them a shoutout on the occasion of International women’s day.
Tony hilariously likes to introduce his kids as The Mitchell 5, and their names are Hayden, Tony III, Prince, Jaxson, and Dio Mitchell.
Out of his five kids, he had two of them, namely Tony III and Jaxson with Jasmine Godbolt. Tony had met her when they were studying together at the University of North Texas.
Godbolt was also a basketball athlete for North Texas during her college days.
However, his exact relationship status at present is not known. But, it seems he still has friendly relations with every woman he was with at some point in his life.
Age & Body Features
As of 2022, Tony Mitchell is 30 years old.
About his physical stats, Mitchell stands at a height of 2.01 meters (6 feet 7 inches) tall, and his weight is around 235 lb (107 kg).
He looked a bit bulky in his initial years, but he has now strengthened his body as he regularly goes to the gym for routine workouts. As a result, he has a very well-maintained physique.
Furthermore, he has partially tattooed some of his body parts as well.
Social Media
Tony Mitchell has an Instagram account, but it has fewer followers and is not verified yet. It currently has around 28k followers.
He mainly posts pictures related to his personal and professional life. He mainly posts about his kids and birthday wishes for his close ones in recent times.
Likewise, he sometimes posts stuff related to basketball as well. Similarly, he has a private Facebook account that he actively uses, but he does not have a page for his fans yet.
FAQs
What happened to Tony Mitchell?
Tony Mitchell was quite inactive since he last appeared for the Leones de Ponce in the BSN League. But he has officially confirmed that he got back with Maccabi Haifa in Israel in 2022.
He had shared the good news with his fans on his Instagram account recently in March 2022.