The groin injury that kept Caitlin Clark out of the TD Garden matchup in July still had her sidelined a month later. Meanwhile, Aari McDonald, who was signed on a hardship contract because of Clark’s injury, broke a bone in her right foot earlier this month, bringing her season to an end. Sydney Colson tore her ACL in the same game, ending her season, too. Then Sunday, Sophie Cunningham had to be helped off the floor after suffering a right knee injury.

Somehow, the Fever still have the sixth-best record in the league. The same way, they somehow climbed out of a 21-point hole and dashed out of Connecticut with a 99-93 win. Mitchell scored 38 points, 34 in the second half. It was her second 30-point game this month and fourth of the season.

The Fever are hanging on by a thread, and that thread is Mitchell.

“I don’t even think there are any words,” forward Aliyah Boston said. “When you look at Kelsey’s play and you look at what she means to this squad, coming out of that second half and going off the way that she did, I think it kind of speaks for her case in general.

“She comes out, she defends, she scores the ball, she plays 40 minutes a game, and she still consistently puts up these numbers. I feel like, if she’s not MVP, shoot.”

As recently as two weeks ago, any MVP conversations would have been short. Napheesa Collier was far and away the best player in the league, anchoring the best team in the league on both sides of the floor. But a right ankle injury has had her sidelined for the past two weeks with no timetable for a return beyond “before the end of the season.”

She’s missed four games over that span and seven overall, raising the question of how many games a player can miss and still be the league’s MVP, and opening the door for other possibilities.

Some of those possibilities are familiar names. Three-time MVP A’ja Wilson, coincidentally, has gone on a tear while Collier has been sidelined, and Wilson’s Aces are back among the top teams in the league.

Alyssa Thomas, the 2023 runner-up, has been a force all season, nearly averaging a triple-double (16.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 9.1 assists).

Allisha Gray is having the best season of her career (averaging 18.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists) and has the Dream in second place.

Mitchell might not be the conventional MVP candidate, but there’s a case to be made. There’s no criteria for MVP, but the winners generally fit a certain mold.

For one, they don’t miss many games. When Jonquel Jones won the award in 2021, she missed five games, the most an MVP ever sat out.

Often, MVPs come from the best teams in the league. Twelve of the 28 MVPs were on the team with the best regular-season record, and eight were on the No. 2 team. Lauren Jackson, however, was an exception in 2007, when she won it on a Storm team that went 17-17. She also averaged 23.7 points and 9.7 rebounds, and already had an MVP trophy from 2003.

Scoring can vary. Wilson’s 2024 season was undeniable. She averaged 26.9 points while pulling down 11.9 rebounds per game. But in 2011, Tamika Catchings won it while averaging just 15.5 points for a first-place Fever team. The bulk of the WNBA’s MVPs averaged between 17 and 24 points per game.

Quietly, Mitchell has built an MVP résumé this season.

She’s tied for third in the league in scoring behind Collier and Wilson, and the Fever have needed every bit of it with Clark out. They’re 8-5 with Clark and 11-11 without her. If Clark returns this season, she’ll rejoin a team still in the thick of the playoff race, thanks in no small part to Mitchell.

Mitchell would be an MVP outlier, but oddly enough because of how many games she’s missed, so would Collier.

Is Mitchell a long shot? Maybe. Is she worth considering? Sure. Has it crossed her mind?

“I haven’t even thought about that,” she said.

Who’s hooping?

Jewell Loyd, Las Vegas Aces: Loyd had made 213 consecutive starts dating to 2019, before going to the bench last month. Ten games into her new role, she’s finally looking comfortable, averaging 14.6 points with a 45.7/43.8/81.8 shooting line.

Veronica Burton, Golden State Valkyries: The only 30-point triple-double in WNBA history belongs to Sabrina Ionescu, but Burton flirted with the achievement in a win last week over Washington. She put up 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists, going 10 for 13 from the floor, including 6 for 9 on 3-pointers.

Appointment viewing

Phoenix Mercury at Las Vegas Aces, Thursday, 10 p.m.: The Aces have won nine of their last 12 and are riding a seven-game streak. The Mercury, on the other hand, have had a hard time beating the teams at the top. Of their 14 losses, nine have come against the Lynx, Liberty, and Dream.

New York Liberty at Atlanta Dream, Saturday, 2 p.m.: The Dream dropped two of their first three meetings to the Liberty, and what stung about them both were the leads they let slip away. In June, they blew a 17-point, third-quarter lead. In July, they let a 19-point, second-quarter lead unravel. But for a team that’s been near the top of the league all season, the Dream have a sense that they can compete with the defending champs.

Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com.