Indiana Fever shooting guard Kelsey Mitchell was a big part of the reason why the team made the playoffs for the first time since 2016, and should be a natural lock for the team's free agency negotiations. But Fever fans have noticed the team hasn't yet cored Mitchell, and Mitchell has been vocal about being interested in exploring all of her options since last November.
This puts both Mitchell and the Fever in a curious position: as much as it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which the team lets one of its best players walk away, it's also not difficult to imagine a scenario in which Mitchell does just that.
The 5'11" 29-year-old has just finished one of the best seasons of her career. She hit both a career high in terms of points (19.2) and field goal percentage (46.8), despite having suffered the unexpected loss of her father right before the season began.
The death of Kelsey Mitchell's dad changed something for her
In an essay she wrote for the Player's Tribune in November, Mitchell wrote about the impact her father's life and death had on her and how she's shifted the way she's thinking of her own future and goals. "I love my mama like no other, but the love of hoop my Dad and I shared was just a tad bit different," Mitchell explained. "I’ve always been a daddy’s girl and loved my dad to the core."
His death hit hard. "Pain and trauma makes you look at life a little different," she added. "I didn’t know what would happen next, if I was going to play this season …how I was supposed to play this season."
She soon realized that her dad would have wanted nothing more for her to continue to compete, so Mitchell recommitted her energy to the team, despite the fact that she might not be on the Fever this season.
"When I look back at my journey with the Fever, from 2018 to now, and everything I went through, I feel like it was just supposed to happen this way. And it’s hard to know what the future holds. I’ll be honest, I don’t know what colors I’ll be wearing next year," Mitchell wrote. "I've never been through free agency, so I’m looking forward to the opportunity to explore that for the first time in my career and have a say in my future as a basketball player."
Could Kelsey Mitchell come to the Golden State Valkyries?
The possibility of Mitchell exploring free agency and signing to a new team is a tantalizing one for most of the league. And while the idea that Mitchell would sign to a brand new, untested team when she's come so close to a championship doesn't feel like a likely route, she would be a major asset to a team that needs both superstar leadership and a dominant shooting guard. In other words, it would be well worth Golden States' efforts to attempt to entice Mitchell to the Bay Area, and you never know: a dramatic change of scenery and the chance to build a team from the ground up might be exactly what she needs.