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Part of what\u2019s allowed Kelsey Mitchell to thrive this season is coach Stephanie White giving her, and everyone on the Fever roster, the freedom to be themselves.Michael Reaves\/Getty<\/p>\nThe Fever were rebuilding around a young core that started when they drafted Lexie Hull in 2022, then Aliyah Boston in 2023, and Caitlin Clark in 2024.<\/p>\n
Mitchell had been in Indiana since 2018, drafted out of Ohio State with the No. 2 overall pick, and she had experienced all the depths the franchise was trying to climb out of \u2014 from the years when cracking six wins was a struggle, to the years the team spent playing at the state fairgrounds.<\/p>\n
Mitchell was exploring her options as a free agent, but White wanted her to know how much she valued her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked for hours and hours on WhatsApp,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cShe made it a priority to kind of be present in my process.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than anything, Mitchell wanted a coach that believed in her. She needed it at that moment more than any other because she was still grieving the loss of her father, Mark Mitchell, who died suddenly in March 2024. Her father had been her coach and confidant from childhood through college and, during her WNBA career, he was always her first call after games.<\/p>\n
White, who has had to navigate family crises over the past year while also leading WNBA teams, understood.<\/p>\n
The bond that Mitchell and White built allowed Mitchell to emerge as an MVP finalist this season. And it\u2019s not only kept the Fever afloat in a turbulent season, but has them up, 1-0, on the Las Vegas Aces in the second round of the playoffs after pulling off a 89-73 upset Sunday in Game 1. <\/p>\n
Part of what\u2019s allowed Kelsey Mitchell to thrive this season is coach Stephanie White giving her, and everyone on the Fever roster, the freedom to be themselves.Michael Reaves\/Getty<\/p>\n
Mitchell scored a career-playoff-high 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the growth, that\u2019s the experience,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the being at the bottom of the barrel, that\u2019s the being a loser. So I\u2019ve seen it. I know what it looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of what\u2019s allowed Mitchell to thrive this season is White giving her, and everyone on the roster, the freedom to be themselves on and off the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteph always cries on camera, but I cry off camera because I really never truly had the company, the culture, the organization that I\u2019ve been surrounded by the last couple years,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIt\u2019s big for us because I\u2019ve never had that, I\u2019ve never seen it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo to feel valued, to feel like somebody\u2019s pouring into me, seeks out my value, it\u2019s everything to me because I\u2019m a loyal person and my loyalty is in my character. So to know people believe in me, y\u2019all gotta know what that feels like because for a long time nobody did. My dad was the only one. So when you lose somebody and then you find somebody that can replace that, it\u2019s big for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a Fever team that\u2019s dealt with one loss after another this season, Mitchell\u2019s value has been immeasurable. Injuries decimated Indiana\u2019s roster. Between Clark (26 games), Sydney Colson (12), Aari McDonald (12), Sophie Cunningham (11), and Chloe Bibby (7), the Fever lost 68 player games to injury. Teams such as the Dallas Wings and Phoenix Mercury had to rotate more bodies, but the only team with more games lost to injury was the Chicago Sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe even lost a coaching staff member to an Achilles\u2019,\u201d Mitchell said, referring to player development coach Keith Porter, who suffered his injury this month.<\/p>\n
But the Fever clawed to finish 24-20 and earn the sixth seed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do know basketball, and I can say that where we started and where we are, I don\u2019t know if anyone thought we would be here,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
Mitchell averaged a career-high 20.2 points per game, carrying the load with so many bodies on the shelf.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ve been multiple times this season where she\u2019s put us on her back and she\u2019s carried us,\u201d White said. \u201cAnd as we\u2019ve gone through that, she\u2019s continued to lead and pour into everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n
While White has been in this position before, within arm\u2019s reach of the WNBA Finals just a year ago, this is new territory for Mitchell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everything I\u2019ve been through got me here,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI think that my journey and the way it happened was positioned for me. And I believe that everything that I\u2019ve been through was big for me because I can enjoy this moment a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n