Indiana Fever Sign Kelsey Mitchell to Historic $1.4M Deal Ahead of 2026 Season

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever have their sights set on the Championship throughout this offseason. In 2025, the Fever had an up-and-down season, or quite down then up. Indiana struggled to begin the season, posting a 1-8 file after 9 video games. Clark herself had a tricky yr coping with accidents; she was solely accessible for 13 video games, averaging 16.5 factors per recreation, 8.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds per recreation.

The Fever finally rallied, going 24-20 on the season and receiving a No. 6 seed within the 2025 WNBA Playoffs. Indiana defeated Allisha Gray and the No. 3 Atlanta Dream in a 2-1 first-round collection. Indiana finally misplaced to A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces 3-2 within the semifinals. This is the farthest Indiana has gone within the WNBA playoffs since 2015.

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The turnaround was largely due to the sturdy play of guard Kelsey Mitchell. Mitchell performed in all 44 regular-season video games for Indiana, averaging 20.2 factors per recreation and three.4 assists per recreation. She was initially drafted with the No. 2 general select of the Ohio State Buckeyes within the 2018 WNBA Draft.

Entering her ninth season, all with Fevers, she and Clark has formed a dynamic duowhen they’re on the court docket collectively, that’s. In 2024, when getting back from the Olympic break till the beginning of the playoffs, Clark ranked third in all the league in factors per recreation at 23.1, with Mitchell ranked second at 23.4 per recreation. When discussing the upcoming season with NBC Sports throughout their NBA pregame protection, Clark gave high praise to Mitchell and his importance to the workforce.

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“…You know our first priority is to sign Kelsey Mitchell back,” Clark mentioned on the printed. “Was first team all-WNBA last year, kind of my running mate in the back court. She makes it real easy for me. So there’s nothing like playing for the Fever, I think we’re going to be the favorite to win it all…”

The WNBA and its WNBAPA reached a historic agreement On March 20 that, amongst different adjustments, raised the wage cap for groups from the 1.5 million they acquired in 2025 to 7 million, together with elevating the person participant wage max from $249,000.00 to 1.4 million. In response to the brand new cap construction, the Fever have made Mitchell the primary 1 million greenback lady in franchise historical past.

“BREAKING: 3x WNBA All-Star Kelsey Mitchell is finalizing a one-year, $1.4M supermax agreement to return to the Indiana Fever,” Yahoo Sports wrote on X. “per @chiney 💰 Mitchell is now the first $1M+ player in Fever history.”

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