On Thursday, the Indiana Fever put out posts that appeared to be aimed at canvassing for their supposed MVP candidates. Of course, as expected, Caitlin Clark sits at the forefront of that conversation. But as it turns out, the post also had Kelsey Mitchell alongside Clark, with both presented as co-MVPs.
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While it is quite justifiable to say that both Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell have indeed put out MVP-like performances all season, and it is understandable that the franchise is now championing both as deserving candidates, the way WNBA analyst Ben Daniels sees it, the Fever front office does not actually want either Clark or Mitchell to eventually win that accolade. In fact, he believes this co-MVP campaign is part of an elaborate scheme to sabotage Caitlin Clark’s chances of winning the MVP and ensure that A’ja Wilson wins her fifth.
“I think Caitlin Clark is more deserving than Kelsey Mitchell of MVP. But it’s clear, like I said earlier in the show, that they pushed the co-MVP button today. That’s what they’ve officially pushed today… And do you know what that’s going to do? That’s going to guarantee neither of them wins MVP,” Daniel said on Thursday’s episode of his Ben Daniels Podcast.
“All it does is further solidify A’ja Wilson winning another MVP. Because the Indiana Fever, what they’re doing, is pushing to split the votes. They’re pushing the media to split MVP votes between Kelsey and Caitlin, therefore leaving A’ja Wilson with the most first-place votes.”
The post in question came from the official Indiana Fever social media handle and included clips of both Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell with the caption “MVP².” A second post highlighting their combined stats was also captioned, “Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, that’s our MVP².” And apart from the posts, several Fever players, specifically Lexie Hull and Tyasha Harris, have also suggested that both players are equally deserving of the MVP in separate interviews.
Both Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell have indeed been incredible for the Indiana Fever this season. Kelsey Mitchell currently ranks second in scoring with an average of 24.8 points per game, alongside 2.8 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game. Caitlin Clark is just behind the leader in third, averaging 22.1 points per game. However, Clark leads the league in assists, averaging 8.3 per game, alongside 3.8 rebounds.
The Clark and Kelsey Mitchell duo have also been central to the Indiana Fever’s offense becoming the most potent in the WNBA this season at 96.6 PPG. Together, they’ve played 18 games where they’ve surpassed 100 points, and they’ve both scored 30+ points in a single game three times, setting the WNBA record for a duo.
Hall of Famer Lauren Jackson has spoken on the 2026 MVP race and the GOAT debate! 🔥 Here's what @laurenej15 said: "A'ja. A'ja Wilson. Again, she has had another remarkable season, and i don’t think anyone can really stack up to her... i just think it’s her pure dominance, Show more
Even their teammate Lexi Hull weighed in on the conversation and said both of them deserve to win MVP this year while speaking to WISH-TV News during practice.
“I mean, I think any of them deserve it for sure, and I think for us it just shows the success of our team… they’re just such big team players, they’ll do whatever we need for our team to win and it’s showing up on the stat sheet for sure.”
For WNBA analyst Ben Daniels, however, Caitlin Clark has been the better player of the two. Therefore, she should definitely be the player the Fever and fellow Fever players should be championing for the MVP.
With A’ja Wilson still leading the league in most of the individual metrics, it will be interesting to see whether the league even considers a co-MVP push the Fever are seemingly trying. Wilson has won the award three times in the last four years, and so far, at 26.0 points per game, she has already surpassed last year’s 24.3 PPG. Then again, it may all come down to which team ends up winning the 2026 WNBA championship.