{"id":161095,"date":"2025-09-22T09:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T09:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/161095\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T09:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T09:20:08","slug":"kelsey-mitchell-is-indiana-fever-star-loves-culture-feels-valued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/161095\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelsey Mitchell is Indiana Fever star, loves culture, feels valued"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"play\"<\/p>\n

Kelsey Mitchell on Indiana Fever WNBA Playoffs run: ‘Trying to be who I am’<\/p>\n

Kelsey Mitchell scored a playoff career-high 34 points as the Indiana Fever won Game 1 of the second round of the WNBA playoffs against the Las Vegas Aces.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Mitchell scored a playoff career-high 34 points to lead the Indiana Fever to a Game 1 win at the Las Vegas Aces.Mitchell highlighted why, while playing the best basketball of her career, this season is different than the others with the franchise that drafted her No. 2 in 2018.Game 2: Fever at Aces, 9:30 p.m. Tuesday<\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2014 Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> never wants to celebrate too much.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t celebrate much after the Indiana Fever<\/a> kept their season alive with a Game 2 win over the Dream<\/a> on Tuesday. Or when they clinched a spot in the semifinals, upsetting the No. 3-seed Dream with a comeback Game 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not even when she dropped 34 points, a playoff career high, to help the No. 6 Fever<\/a> set the tone against the No. 2 Las Vegas Aces with an 89-73 win in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s because there\u2019s always more to accomplish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to treat it with respect, respect where we are,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cAnd I think the biggest thing about right now is just kind of like, just being focused on the next one. I currently focus on this (Game 1) for like a couple more hours, and then it’s like, you gotta turn to the next one, because they\u2019re gonna come coming. You gotta be ready for whatever is thrown at you and be your best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell was the X factor in the Fever\u2019s win, shocking the Aces on their home court. She was calm, cool, and collected in the first semifinal game of her career.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s just who Mitchell is as a player. She doesn\u2019t pay attention to any of the outside noise or any individual accolades \u2014 like the fact she was a finalist for MVP<\/a> for the first time in her career.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s the type of person that puts her head down and thinks about what\u2019s most important: playing (and winning) basketball games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that as a competitor, like, you know, you want to win. You want to be your best to win,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201c… I just try to keep it about basketball. So I think what you guys see is just me trying to just be a kid in the playground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Insider: In her toughest time, Kelsey Mitchell leaned on her ‘love language’ \u2014 basketball<\/a><\/p>\n

In the past two years, Mitchell has been a part of a lot of winning. But it\u2019s been a long road to get where she and the Fever are today.<\/p>\n

Mitchell was drafted at No. 2 in 2018 to a team that was trying to find its footing after Tamika Catchings<\/a>, their franchise player for 15 years, retired after the 2016 season. She played through six straight losing seasons, watching the WNBA Playoffs from afar as the Fever couldn\u2019t find a rhythm.<\/p>\n

She went through four coaches and countless teammates in those years, the Fever ever evolving as they tried to find their footing in a time of turmoil. Mitchell was the only constant in those six years, consistently working and believing in what the Fever were building.<\/p>\n

Then, the Fever got the No.1 pick with Aliyah Boston<\/a>. Another No. 1 with Caitlin Clark<\/a>. The Fever started winning, making the playoffs in 2024 for the first time in Mitchell\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

Now, with Clark limited to 13 games because of various injuries this season, Mitchell has become the star of one of the most formidable teams in the league. Her role has evolved as the Fever have worked through five season-ending injuries<\/a>, including to the Fever\u2019s top three point guards, but she\u2019s always been the consistent playmaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been multiple times this season where she’s put us on her back, and she’s carried us as we’ve gone through that,\u201d Fever coach Stephanie White<\/a> said. \u201cShe’s continued to lead and pour into everybody else and and you see days like today, where we get production from multiple people, that’s what it’s going to take for us to be successful. But Kelsey is definitely the head of the snake for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell didn\u2019t need to come back for the 2025 season. Her three-year rookie extension with the Fever expired following 2024, and while she was technically eligible to be cored, she could\u2019ve left the franchise via trade if she wanted.<\/p>\n

But as soon as White was hired in November 2024, they started building a relationship. They talked for hours on Whatsapp as Mitchell was playing in China, building an organic relationship both inside and outside of basketball.<\/p>\n

They talked about everything ranging from Mitchell\u2019s potential future role on the team to how she was doing with the death of her father<\/a> after he died in March 2024. It was a type of connection Mitchell hadn\u2019t felt with her coach before, and something that gave her a newfound hope for her future on the Fever.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteph always cries on camera, but I\u2019ve never had a coach, like, I cry off camera, because I really, never truly have the company, the culture, the organization that I have been surrounded by the last couple years,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI’ve never had that. I’ve never seen that. And so to feel valued and to feel like somebody’s pouring into me, it seeks out my value. It’s everything to me, because I’m a loyal person, and my loyalty is in my character. It’s something I truly value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, as a three-time All-Star and 2025 MVP finalist, Mitchell is playing some of the best basketball of her career behind a coaching staff and culture that is true to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe’s just an amazing player,\u201d Fever teammate Brianna Turner<\/a> said. \u201cI’m happy to play alongside her. I’m happy to cheer for her. I’m happy to just like, be in her space. She\u2019s such a great teammate, such a phenomenal human person. I could not say enough great things about Kelsey Mitchell, like, everyone deserves a Kelsey Mitchell on their team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at\u00a0@chloepeterson67<\/a>.\u00a0Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our\u00a0Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelsey Mitchell on Indiana Fever WNBA Playoffs run: ‘Trying to be who I am’ Kelsey Mitchell scored a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[10228,461,36660,20692,49,7075,735,48,78769,7076,6003,5904,2803,26677,4650,1458,3460,26678,44,1333,1345,36547,1334,82,865,78768,78771,29559,1459,630,26214,4134,4143],"class_list":["post-161095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-aces","tag-basketball","tag-brianna","tag-brianna-turner","tag-ca","tag-caitlin","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-canada","tag-catchings","tag-clark","tag-fever","tag-indiana","tag-indiana-fever","tag-kelsey","tag-kelsey-mitchell","tag-las","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-mitchell","tag-news","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-playoffs","tag-positive","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-tamika","tag-tamika-catchings","tag-turner","tag-vegas","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-playoffs","tag-womens","tag-womens-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}