Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell has announced she will indeed test free agency this offseason.
"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," Mitchell wrote in an essay for the Players' Tribune.
The news comes one week after the franchise announced Stephanie White will be the team's coach in 2025. Several times throughout the season, Mitchell has expressed her desire to test free agency for the first time since being drafted second overall by Indiana in 2018.
"It's definitely an emotions and thoughts that flow through my mind," Mitchell said on Sept. 27 during media exit interviews. "Obviously, I've always had a home in Indy, and it could potentially be a home for me again ... but I've got to be selfish about the process."
Mitchell, alongside Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, was one half of the hottest WNBA backcourt coming out of the All-Star and Olympic break. Both Clark and Mitchell were among the top four 3-point shooters in the league, with Clark leading the pack (122 3-pointers made). On the backend of the 2024 season, Indiana tallied a .643 winning percentage despite a 1-8 (.111) start to the season.
Even before their late rise in the standings, the Fever were the hot ticket everywhere they went this season.
"That's kind of one of the craziest things about our season," Mitchell said. "We obviously had a new spotlight on us, with Caitlin being drafted, who I'm proud to call a teammate."
The Fever set a single-season attendance record of 340,715, surpassing New York's record of 250,565 set in 2001 over 16 games. However, the sellouts and media attention came at a cost, and at a time where Mitchell and others in the organizations were uniquely vulnerable.
In her essay, Mitchell also wrote about grieving the unexpected death of her father throughout the season. It is one of the main reasons the two-time All-Star plans to take her time and consider what is best for her this offseason.
"This was one of the hardest seasons I've ever been through, in basketball and in life. Because for the first time, I had to learn how to do it without my dad," Mitchell said. "There were games that I cried in the locker room before tipoff. But you wouldn't have known. I wasn't letting people see me like that.
"That was exciting in its own way, with the fans it brought to the arena, and the opportunity it gave our squad. But I think, in a weird way, the outside noise kind of made people forget sometimes that we're still human, if that makes sense? The microscope got smaller and smaller, and I don't think anybody was really thinking about the fact that my dad just died, or Katie Lou's a mom trying to figure out motherhood and being a WNBA pro all in one. ... We all had real things we were going through."
Mitchell also addressed the toxic and often racist vitriol that too often accompanied the increased attention.
"The spectacle was unsettling sometimes. Some of the newer fans have been really hateful online to the incredible women in our league, and to me and our Fever players as well," Mitchell said. "Sometimes it was hard to see who was really in it for the love of the game and who wasn't ... it took away the purity for me. I shouldn't even have to say this, but our team doesn't condone any racism, sexism, homophobia, or hate against any group. That has no place in our fanbase. Period."
Despite the new reality her grief and the growth of the league brought, Mitchell and the Fever stayed together through it all. They showed, once again, there is a promising young core in Indianapolis. And with the front office changes and the return of White at the helm, the expectation is this will be the core that gets the Fever back to the WNBA Finals.
"None of the chaos seeped into our locker room. We really held each other down. So our 11, who were professional, competitive, and selfless through it all, I wouldn't trade them for the world," Mitchell said. " ... I have so much respect for Caitlin, especially, and how she handled it as a youngin'. I hope we did a good job of being there for you, too, C . I gave her her flowers early in the game because the eyes she brought shined a light on all of us, too."
The earth-altering experience of losing a parent cannot be explained -- it can only be experienced. The foundation known from birth is irreparably cracked, and not everything from the life you lived before comes along as you learn to breathe and walk again. Although it is unclear whether Mitchell will find her way back to the Fever, the seven-year veteran left no doubt she is the professional she is because of her time in Indiana.
"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," Mitchell wrote.
And the road may lead back to Indiana, whether through the Fever coring and Mitchell accepting the supermax deal, which would bump her 2024 salary almost $30,000 to meet the current supermax salary. The Fever have over $657,000 in cap space to work with next season, per HerHoopsStats. However, Mitchell could opt to forego the core tag and either negotiate better a better price and longer term with Indiana or elsewhere.
"It's hard to know what the future holds," Mitchell wrote. "I'll be honest, I don't know what colors I'll be wearing next year, which just makes me cherish this season and our group even more."