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Player Recaps: Mychal Mulder

By Nick Robinson | April 25, 2022

This nine-part series takes an extensive look at Skyforce players throughout the 2021-22 season. We will highlight season and career highs, as well as the impact each player made on the court. First, we start with Miami HEAT two-way player Mychal Mulder. 

If you’ve paid attention to Sioux Falls Skyforce basketball the last two seasons, Mychal Mulder is a familiar name.

He earned an NBA Call-Up in each of his two seasons in Sioux Falls (2019-20 with the Golden State Warriors). Mulder joined Skyforce royalty as just the fourth player in franchise history to earn NBA Call-Up’s in different seasons (Reggie Jordan, Randy Livingston and Briante Weber).

That’s quite the list to be associated with.

Although this is a 2021-22 season recap, it’s to be noted that during his first stint in Sioux Falls, Mulder was just six three pointers away from breaking Duncan Robinson’s franchise record for most three pointers made in a single season.

Again, he finds himself in elite company within the organization.

Mulder joined the Skyforce on March 3, after he started the season as a two-way player with the Orlando Magic.

He appeared in 15 games (two starts) for Orlando, where he averaged 3.7 points on 44.7 percent shooting, 1.4 rebounds and 0.2 assists per 13.0 minutes a game. Mulder got two games of run with the Lakeland Magic as a part of his two-way contract, where he averaged 14.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per 36.4 minutes.

Through more than two years of changes, Mulder found himself back to where his incredible run started. But he had the same mindset as before. Help impact winning basketball, be a great teammate and the rest will fall into place.

And it did.

He played in 13 games (12 starts) for Kasib Powell and the Force this season, where he averaged 16.5 points on 48.4 percent shooting, 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per 35.1 minutes.

In just his third game back against the Iowa Wolves on March 6, he showed his NBA potential, scoring 27 points on 7-10 3PA, while grabbing eight rebounds and had a plus/minus of plus-22. Talk about making an impact on winning.

It was only a matter of time before Mulder exploded with a outpour of points. On March 17 at the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, he posted a career-high 39 points on 11-17 3PA two rebounds and five assists.

His 11 3PM ranked second all-time in Skyforce history, as he passed Powell and Robinson to reach his spot in franchise history.

Just two games later, he posted a stat line of 35 points on 13-121 FGA (7-12 3PA), six rebounds and six assists in a victory at the Birmingham Squadron on March 23.

The next day, he signed a two-way contract with the Miami HEAT, where he spent the 2019 training camp and preseason with. Things definitely came full circle in multiple facets for Mulder in March.

He appeared in three more games for the Skyforce after inking his two-way deal, scoring 15-or-more points twice, while shooting over 50 percent and having five-or-more assists in two-of-three games.

At the end of the regular season, Mulder appeared in two games (one start) for the HEAT, averaging 7.0 points on 40 percent shooting, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist per 22.1 minutes a game. He logged 42:09 minutes in the team’s regular season finale on April 10, scoring 11 points on 3-7 3PA, while adding two rebounds and two assists.

Just like his other two-way counterpart Javonte Smart, Mulder is ineligible for playoff action with the HEAT, but being around a winning culture and getting high intensity reps in shootaround and practice only helps him in the long run.

It gives Miami a a long look at him for the future, as well. Win-win situation for both parties.

It’s always special to see Skyforce players earn two-way contracts in the NBA, but it means much more when it’s with the HEAT.

For Mulder to accomplish such a feat of an NBA Call-Up in multiple seasons and join some of the greatest to ever don a Skyforce jersey in just under a month of playing time is remarkable.