Indiana Fever star Kelsey Mitchell just finished the greatest season of her nine-year WNBA career after averaging 24.7 points in the regular season. She finished third in the league MVP race behind A’ja Wilson and Olivia Miles and broke the league’s all-time single-season points record with 1,086, surpassing Wilson’s 1,021. Moreover, she earned her fourth career All-Star selection and won back-to-back Player of the Month honors, making the 2026 season her most fruitful. But while Mitchell is a fan favorite who has spent her entire career in Indiana, her future with the team is currently hanging in the balance. In her exit interview, Mitchell said that she would like to be “selfish” about her future from here on.

While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Kelsey Mitchell, let’s take a look at five things you probably didn’t know about the hottest unrestricted free agent this offseason, on her 31st birthday.

Basketball wasn’t the only sport she played growing up

While Mitchell is now one of the hardest scorers in the game to stop, as a child, she showed a strong interest in soccer, following in the footsteps of her older brother, Kevin. While her older brother gave up on the sport after joining their father, Mark, at Taft High School, where soccer wasn’t taught, Kelsey took things up a notch and trained with Team USA. It felt like Mitchell’s future was set, until she suffered a gruesome injury in a tournament during eighth grade.

But Kelsey’s athletic ability became visible to her family early on. Once, a four-year-old Mitchell took a hard crash into the side of the house at the hands of her older brothers. Her father, knowing her toughness, made this incident a teaching moment for young Kelsey, something that would stay with her forever.

“We realized that (the injury) is probably not that serious and we tell her, ‘now if you’re gonna go out there and play with them, you will have to play through some things… And I guess the rest is history because she’s been playing through things for the last 20, 21 years.” Mark Mitchell said, per Princeton Athletics.

Apart from soccer, Kelsey also participated in track and field and karate in her formative years.

Her father was her biggest basketball influence

Speaking of Kelsey’s father, Mark Mitchell had the biggest impact on the four-time All-Star. In her November 2024 Players’ Tribune profile, Kelsey described her father as her “OG best friend.” Mark served as an assistant coach for the Ohio State women’s basketball team from 2013 to 2018. In 2014, Kelsey arrived at the program, and her father oversaw her entire collegiate career, helping her become one of the best point guards of her era.

Her development was particularly hands-on. According to a 2025 Indianapolis Star feature, Mitchell regularly worked on speed and endurance training with her father and reviewed footage of her AAU games with her family.

However, that relationship suffered a devastating loss in March 2024, when Mark suddenly passed away at the age of 56. Mitchell subsequently opened up about navigating her first professional season without him, describing how difficult it was to return to basketball without the person who had guided her throughout her journey.

Mark was recently inducted into the Cincinnati Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026 after leading Taft High School to its first state championship 15 years ago. “The BLUEPRINT,” Mitchell said on Instagram Stories, celebrating her father’s accomplishment.

She is pursuing a Ph.D. while playing WNBA hoops

Playing in the WNBA is hard enough, let alone as one of the best players in the league. But Mitchell has another significant commitment off the court. After earning a master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Cincinnati in 2020, she wasn’t finished with her academic journey. She subsequently began pursuing an online Ph.D. in educational leadership at Liberty University.

In September, Mitchell revealed she was approximately 18 months into the doctoral program. ESPN reported that she even used a team flight to work on an assignment as she attempted to balance her responsibilities as a professional athlete and doctoral student. Mitchell also has a clear long-term goal for what she wants to accomplish with her doctorate, as she hopes to become an athletic director to help open doors and empower women and people of color in sports.

She comes from a family with two sets of twins

“I have twin brothers, Kevin and Cameron, they’re 32. And then I have a twin sister named Chelsea. My mama had two sets of twins, Kevin and Cam, Kelsey and Chelsea — two Ks and two Cs (Yes haha, she’s a soldier).” Mitchell wrote in her Players’ Tribune profile.

Mitchell has an interesting family background, to say the least, and athletics were always a major part of her household. Apart from her father, Mitchell’s mother, Cheryl, also played college basketball at Mississippi Valley State University before transferring to Eastern Kentucky University, where she became a standout player. In fact, Cheryl recorded 260 rebounds during the 1988-89 season, a total that still ranks among the top 10 single-season marks in the university’s record books.

Basketball eventually became a family affair, and in her Players’ Tribune profile, Mitchell recalled how she first fell in love with basketball after accompanying her older brothers to their recreational games, sitting at the end of the bench in an oversized jersey and fetching water for them, waiting for her turn if one of her brothers’ teammates fouled out.

“I was like four years old. They subbed me in, and from there, the rest was history. I found something I truly loved. It was like hoop became a love language between me, my twin, my brothers, my mama, and my dad, because we all love it the same way.” Mitchell wrote.

She is also a sneakerhead

Outside the court, Mitchell’s interests are pretty straightforward. In an April 2018 interview with the WNBA on the eve of the draft, she revealed her love for sneakers, particularly Jordans and Nike releases. She even mentioned purchasing the Cereal LeBron 15s at the time. However, she isn’t keen on collecting vintage.

Surprisingly, Mitchell doesn’t have a signature shoe deal yet, but she did sign an official multi-year endorsement deal with Puma Hoops in June 2026 to become the inaugural athlete representing Tyrese Haliburton’s signature Puma Hali franchise.

Regardless, being interested in footwear doesn’t necessarily mean she enjoys the shopping experience. In fact, Mitchell admitted in the interview that she absolutely hates shopping. Her approach is simple: enter a store, find what she wants, purchase it, and leave- a stark contrast to how her mother and twin sister handle shopping.

Apart from sneakers, Mitchell enjoys going to the movies and reading fictional novels, according to her Athletes Unlimited biography.