A top-10 pick joining his third team in his first four years might usually be considered a bust. Don’t tell that to Davion Mitchell, who after stints with the Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors seems to have found a home with the Miami Heat.

But there’s a catch.

Mitchell, who was acquired in a Feb. 6 deal from the Raptors, will be a restricted free agent this summer.

Exploring Davion Mitchell’s free-agent options.

Mitchell is eligible for a $7.9 million qualifying offer. If the Heat extend the qualifying offer, they would have the right to match any outside offers that come in for Mitchell. If Mitchell accepts Miami’s qualifying offer, he would play out the season on a one-year deal at that value. The Heat could also work with Mitchell on a longer-term contract.

The Heat could also opt not to extend the qualifying offer and attempt to re-sign Mitchell as an unrestricted free agent. At that point, the Heat would have his Bird rights and could offer any contract between the veteran minimum and maximum.

The Heat would still like to limit longterm money and maintain cap space for the 2026 offseason.

It’s clear the Heat would benefit from bringing Mitchell back. The 26-year-old provides a nightly defensive spark and has been better than expected on offense, where he’s shooting 48.4% on 3s and dishing out 4.8 assists per game while wearing a Heat uniform.

Mitchell made the play of the game in Thursday’s win over the Hawks when he dove the floor at halfcourt to come up with a loose ball that led to a 3-pointer to push Miami’s lead to 12 in the fourth quarter of their third straight win.

“That just inspired everybody,” Spoelstra said. “You just love that kind of energy.”

[Check out All U Can Heat’s Exclusive Q&A with Davion Mitchell]

But there’s another thing worth monitoring.

Mitchell, who has started 36 games so far this season (22 with Toronto and 14 with Miami), could see the value of his qualifying offer if he starts in five of Miami’s final nine games. That would trigger the league’s starter criteria and increase his qualifying offer from $7.9 million to $8.7 million.

A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he starts 41 games or plays at least 2,000 minutes in the season before he reaches free agency.

Mitchell hasn’t started since a March 12 loss to the Clippers and has come off the bench in each of Miami’s last eight games. He is on pace to play just over 2,000 minutes this season if he continues to play his average of 31.5 minutes in Miami’s final nine games.

To be clear, there’s no indication that Miami’s decision to bring Mitchell off the bench has anything to do with meeting the league’s starter criteria. As explained, he can still reach that criteria by playing his current allotment of minutes through the end of the season.

My guess is that the decision to bring Mitchell off the bench has nothing to do with his qualifying offer amount. (The three-man group of Mitchell, Haywood Highsmith and Kel’el Ware that has anchored the bench during this stretch is outscoring opponents by an impressive 25.8 points per 100 possessions.) But it could still change some of the math when we get to the summer, so it’s worth bringing up.

One thing is clear, however. Mitchell is a great fit and is someone worth investing in.