{"id":613822,"date":"2026-04-19T05:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/613822\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T05:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:14:09","slug":"kelsey-mitchell-signs-new-wnba-contract-and-announces-pursuit-of-ph-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/613822\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelsey Mitchell Signs New WNBA Contract and Announces Pursuit of Ph.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> is not going anywhere. After an offseason that was surrounded by some uncertainty, the three-time All-Star committed her future to the Indiana Fever<\/a> by signing a new contract in WNBA<\/a> free agency.<\/p>\n

Mitchell\u2019s new deal came out to $1.4 million for one year<\/a>. This guarantees that the 5-foot-8 guard will remain in Indiana for at least one more season.<\/p>\n

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Mitchell, along with teammate Aliyah Boston<\/a>, received an honor on Friday. The two Fever stars were recognized for their leadership in the community during the Steward Speakers Annual Fundraising Gala & Award Ceremony.<\/p>\n

During the Q&A and meet-and-greet, Mitchell took the opportunity to make a personal announcement.<\/p>\n

\"IndianaIndiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell during Game 4 against the Las Vegas<\/a> Aces.Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Mitchell has firmly established herself as one of the top stars in the WNBA. Last season, she finished fifth in the MVP race behind averages of 20.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.5 triples in 31.4 minutes per contest.<\/p>\n

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Amid her status as an elite guard in the league, however, Mitchell has also chosen to focus on her personal growth. She announced on Friday that she is currently back in school studying. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’m getting my Ph.D. in Educational Leadership,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cYeah, it’s pretty hard being a student athlete at 30, but I guess I can do it.\u00a0But it’s been humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell revealed that she\u2019s taking online classes at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. She expects to get her Ph.D. by 2028, but she\u2019s already started attending classes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRecently, I just did a research class, and it was the worst in my life, y’all,\u201d she said. \u201cI was fighting for my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think, in retrospect, it’s good for me because the discipline that is kind of\u00a0maintained with doing school and still being a pro, and what I do. It’s kind of like,\u00a0keeps me grounded, keeps me focused, keep me, I don’t know, keep me in tune with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basketball will still be the top priority for Mitchell, though. Training camp officially starts on Sunday for the Fever, and she\u2019s already locked in.<\/p>\n

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Mitchell is expected to play a key role<\/a> in Indiana\u2019s championship push this season alongside cornerstone superstar Caitlin Clark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: Fever’s Stephanie White Makes Admission After Challenging Offseason<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the WNBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelsey Mitchell is not going anywhere. After an offseason that was surrounded by some uncertainty, the three-time All-Star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4655,49,735,48,2803,4650,1483,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-613822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-aliyah-boston","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-caitlin-clark","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-indiana-fever","13":"tag-kelsey-mitchell","14":"tag-las-vegas","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613822","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=613822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}