Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark ended the season setting records that put them in the conversation as one of the best offensive duos in WNBA history. But as it appears, Mitchell, for some reason, did not have the best of times alongside Clark.
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Speaking in her exit interview, Kelsey Mitchell opened up about how difficult it was dealing with the overwhelming attention surrounding Clark, admitting that Fever players often receive “a lot of flak” simply for being her teammates. While Mitchell’s comments appeared to highlight the downside of playing in the middle of the Fever’s massive spotlight, they did not sit well with many Fever fans, including WNBA analyst Rachel DeMita, who believes players being in the spotlight and receiving backlash from fans is simply a norm as far as sports is concerned.
“Huge fan of Kelsey. She had a spectacular season,” DeMita said, speaking on her Courtside Club podcast. “I get it. Sometimes you get hate just being a public figure. But she was getting MVP chants from Indiana Fever fans. So, no, there’s never going to be an arena that you step into where every single fan likes you. It doesn’t matter. That’s just the way it is. That’s the way it is when you’re a public figure in general.”
“If you’re any sort of public figure with any sort of status, not everyone is going to like you. And there’s going to be ebbs and flows where a lot of people love you, then a lot of people hate you if you have a bad game. And it’s probably for her, by the way, she didn’t have the greatest series against the Aces. She had a fantastic regular season, but she had a couple iffy games during that series,” she added.
In terms of numbers, the last three seasons that Kelsey Mitchell has spent alongside Caitlin Clark actually qualify as the best three seasons of her career. In 2024, when Clark was a rookie, Mitchell averaged 19.2 points per game, which was then a career best. The following year, she finished with an average of 20.2 points per game, setting another career high.
And this season, with her 24.7 points-per-game average, which is now another career best, she finished second in the league in scoring average. In fact, she ended up with the most points overall, setting the all-time single-season total points record. And alongside Clark, their average of 47.0 points per game in 2026 also made them the highest-scoring duo in WNBA history.
Fair enough, these three seasons have also brought the highest level of spotlight on Mitchell, the Indiana Fever as a whole, and even the WNBA at large. And of course, the criticism is also louder when more fans are paying attention to the game and the Indiana Fever as a whole.
Those criticisms certainly came with the playoff performance that Kelsey Mitchell, Caitlin Clark, and the rest of the team delivered in the first round against the Las Vegas Aces, especially in the decisive Game 3. Mitchell finished that game with 23 points, two assists, and two rebounds, which seemed decent on the surface. However, she shot a highly inefficient 30.4% from the field and went just 3-of-11 from three-point range. The same Fever fanbase that had been making MVP pushes for her all season also called out the performance.
The way DeMita sees it, this is simply the nature of sports and sports fans as a whole. And so, it should not be a surprise for players, even though it can usually be difficult to deal with when playing for a team with a huge fanbase like the Fever.
As things stand, however, Kelsey Mitchell can now decide to walk away from the Caitlin Clark spotlight that she considers exhausting. Her contract has expired this season, and for the first time in her career, she will be an unrestricted free agent and will not be cored.
The ball is in her court. Whether she will walk away from the offensive partnership she has built with Clark or remain in Indiana regardless of the spotlight pressure remains to be seen.