Kelsey Mitchell is an unrestricted free agent for the very first time in her WNBA career, all nine seasons of which she has spent with the Indiana Fever. And judging by her exit interview this season, it feels like the veteran is quite open to opportunities outside Indiana.
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The feeling within the franchise, of course, is to retain her at all costs. In fact, Caitlin Clark publicly said there is nobody else she would rather share the backcourt with, and that the team will do its best to recruit her back. The way ESPN legend Linda Cohn sees it, however, it is okay to let Mitchell walk if her mind is set on a new chapter elsewhere.
“We don’t even know if she’s going to sign with the Fever,” Cohn said in a YouTube video she posted on Saturday. “We don’t even know if she’s going to be back. And I’m not sure I’d want her back as long as they find potential free agents that can pick up that scoring load. We know she’s talented, and we know she’s going to look for the big bucks elsewhere, and good for her. That’s why you are an unrestricted free agent. You can do what you want; it’s great.
As Cohn continued to evaluate the coaching staff and roster, she mentioned Mitchell again shortly after, adding, “And you know, I’m over the Kelsey Mitchell thing. She can go if she has to.”
Given what Mitchell produced this season, it is easy to see why Indiana, and Clark especially, are so determined to bring her back. She put together an MVP-caliber campaign, finishing second in the WNBA in scoring average with a career-high 24.7 points per game (behind MVP A’ja Wilson’s 26.2). Mitchell was also an absolute sniper, shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 45.0 percent from three-point range.
She also finished with the league’s all-time record for total points in a single regular season, with 1,086. And among her other records, she became the most prolific three-point shooter in franchise history, knocking down 135 threes to pass the previous Indiana record of 122, set by Clark in her 2024 rookie year.
Beyond her individual numbers, her partnership with Clark is another major reason why it’s more than reasonable for the Indiana Fever to want her back, and why Caitlin Clark publicly made a commitment to convincing her to remain with the Fever.
Together they averaged a combined 47 points a night and finished in the top three in scoring, making them the most prolific backcourt scoring tandem in WNBA history. They also set a record for the most games in a season in which both guards scored 20-plus points.
For Linda Cohn, however, all of this is absolutely replaceable. The way she sees it, the truly irreplaceable pieces on this Indiana Fever team are Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston. And for her, those are the players any incoming general manager should be looking to build the team around.
“I still believe you have to build around Caitlin and Aliyah Boston,” Cohn said. “You have to improve the perimeter defense, and you have to find someone to pick up the scoring slack, and you have to convince potential free agents that the Indiana Fever fan base are not racist. That’s it. That’s the starting point for the new GM.”
Following their disappointing end to the season, finishing sixth in the regular season and crashing out in the first round of the playoffs, the Indiana Fever did fire their general manager, Amber Cox. And right now, the franchise is on the lookout for a new general manager, employing the services of Excel Search & Advisory to find a suitable replacement.
To a large extent, the job of convincing Mitchell to re-sign will fall to whoever eventually takes that GM role. That person will also be responsible for building the roster Indiana takes into next season. Whether Kelsey Mitchell is part of it is the biggest question hanging over the Fever’s offseason.