Kelsey Mitchell

Kelsey Mitchell is an American guard who spent her first nine WNBA seasons, 2018 through 2026, with the Indiana Fever. She was one of the most prolific perimeter scorers of her generation. At Ohio State she held the Big Ten career scoring record until Caitlin Clark broke it. In Indianapolis she became the franchise’s all-time leader in made three-pointers. In 2026 she scored 1,086 points, the most in a single season in WNBA history, and made 135 threes, also a league single-season record. That year she and Clark became the first Fever teammates named All-WNBA First Team in the same season.

Vitals
Born	November 12, 1995, Cincinnati, Ohio
Position	Guard (5-8)
Teams	Ohio State (2014–2018); Indiana Fever (2018–2026)
Draft	2018, Round 1, No. 2 overall, Indiana Fever
Contract status	Unrestricted free agent as of Oct. 4, 2026, after playing 2026 on a one-year, $1.4 million supermax deal
Number	0 (Indiana Fever)

Ohio State

The scorer from Cincinnati. Mitchell played high school basketball at Princeton High School in Sharonville, Ohio, then stayed in state at Ohio State. She scored from the start. Her 873 points as a freshman in 2014-15 were among the highest freshman totals in Division I history, and she shared Big Ten Player of the Year honors as a freshman and again as a senior.

The record. Mitchell finished her Buckeyes career in 2018 with 3,402 points. That was the Big Ten career record and the second-highest total in NCAA Division I history at the time, behind Washington’s Kelsey Plum, per her Wikipedia biography. The Big Ten record stood for nearly six years. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark passed it in a 110-74 win at Northwestern, reported on Feb. 1, 2024, per Sports Illustrated. The player who broke the record would later share a backcourt with Mitchell. She remained Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer, and the school inducted her into its Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.

Indiana Fever: the early years (2018–2023)

The arrival. The Fever drafted Mitchell second overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft. She averaged 12.7 points as a rookie and was named to the 2018 All-Rookie Team. Those Fever teams were rebuilding after the Tamika Catchings era, and Mitchell’s scoring was often the most reliable part of the offense.

The climb. Her scoring grew in nearly every season: 13.6 points per game in 2019, 17.9 in the shortened 2020 season, then between 17.8 and 18.4 from 2021 through 2023, per Basketball-Reference. Her three-point accuracy rose with it, to .409 in 2022. She was durable through those years. Through 2025 she had played 277 of a possible 282 regular-season games, missing five games in 2022, according to the league. She made her first All-Star team in 2023.

Indiana Fever: the Clark era (2024–2026)

A new backcourt. The Fever drafted Clark first overall in 2024, and Mitchell moved from lead option to one half of a two-guard engine. Her efficiency rose: she shot .468 from the field and .402 from three in 2024 and averaged 19.2 points. Indiana reached the playoffs that year, and Mitchell averaged 19.0 points in a two-game first-round exit.

The 2025 breakthrough. In 2025 Clark played only 13 games because of groin and quad injuries and was ruled out for the rest of the season in September, per ESPN, and Mitchell carried the scoring load. Her 20.2 points per game and 890 total points were both franchise single-season records, per the WNBA. She was named All-WNBA First Team, won the Commissioner’s Cup with Indiana and was an MVP finalist. In the postseason she scored 178 points in eight games, the third-most in Fever playoff history. Indiana reached the WNBA Semifinals for the first time in a decade.

The supermax. The Fever core-designated Mitchell for the 2025 season, and she signed a core contract on Jan. 29, 2025, per her Wikipedia biography. The team used the designation on her again for 2026, per Yahoo Sports, citing ESPN. Before 2026 she agreed to a one-year, $1.4 million supermax deal, reported by ESPN on April 10, 2026, and announced by the team the next day. ESPN reported that she was among the first players in league history to agree to terms at the new supermax level.

The record season. Mitchell’s 2026 season was her most productive. She played all 44 games and averaged a career-high 24.7 points on .509 shooting and .450 from three, per Basketball-Reference. During the season she passed A’ja Wilson’s 2024 mark of 1,021 points for the single-season record. She did it with a third-quarter three-pointer in a 33-point game, a 103-85 Fever win at Toronto, per WCPO, citing the Associated Press. In the same stretch she extended her WNBA record for consecutive 20-point games. She finished with 1,086 points, 13 more than Wilson’s 1,073 in the same season, per Basketball-Reference’s single-season leaders. Her 135 three-pointers edged Rhyne Howard’s 134, also in 2026, and passed Sabrina Ionescu’s 2023 record of 128.

Alongside Clark. Clark came back in 2026 and averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 assists. Just Women’s Sports reported that the pair’s combined 47 points per game were the most by any backcourt duo in WNBA history. Indiana went 28-16 and entered the playoffs as the sixth seed, then lost a three-game first-round series to the Las Vegas Aces. Mitchell averaged 20.3 points in the series. She finished third in MVP voting. On Oct. 24, 2026, the league named Mitchell and Clark to the All-WNBA First Team. They were the first Fever teammates named to the First Team in the same season. Before them, only Catchings had made it for the franchise, until Clark did as a rookie in 2024 and Mitchell in 2025. When Clark was chosen in 2024, the Fever said she joined Catchings as the only players in franchise history to earn All-WNBA First Team honors. The Associated Press had already put both on its own First Team in late September.

By the numbers

Regular-season statistics, per Basketball-Reference.

Season	GP	MPG	PPG	3PM	3P%	FG%
2018	34	24.4	12.7	70	.335	.346
2019	34	25.1	13.6	79	.374	.387
2020	22	32.1	17.9	56	.389	.448
2021	32	33.1	17.8	70	.335	.431
2022	31	32.6	18.4	72	.409	.438
2023	40	33.7	18.2	102	.398	.441
2024	40	32.0	19.2	109	.402	.468
2025	44	31.4	20.2	111	.394	.456
2026	44	32.5	24.7	135	.450	.509
Career	321	30.8	18.4	804	.391	.444

Career totals

Per Basketball-Reference, through the 2026 WNBA season.

Ranks

• 1st Points in a single season, WNBA history (1,086 in 2026)
• 1st Three-pointers in a single season, WNBA history (135 in 2026)
• 1st Three-pointers, Fever franchise history (804)
• 2nd Points, Fever franchise history (5,899)
• 2nd Games played, Fever franchise history (321)

Per Basketball-Reference's single-season points, single-season threes and Fever player register, through the 2026 season.

Honors

• 2× All-WNBA First Team (2025, 2026)
• WNBA single-season points record (2026)
• 4× WNBA All-Star (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026)
• 3rd in WNBA MVP voting (2026)
• 2025 Commissioner's Cup champion
• 2018 WNBA All-Rookie Team
• Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame (2023)

Per Basketball-Reference and WNBA.com, through Nov. 9, 2026.

The arguments

Where she belongs among Fever greats. Catchings leads the franchise in points (7,380) and games (457), and she has the 2012 championship. Mitchell’s case rests on the single-season scoring records, the franchise three-point record and two First Team selections. Fever general manager Amber Cox said after the 2026 playoffs that Mitchell had built substantial equity with the franchise and that the team wanted her to retire in Indiana, per Yahoo Sports. Those who favor Catchings point to a longer career and a title. The question of where Mitchell finishes depends partly on whether she stays.

Free agency. The Fever had used the core designation on Mitchell twice, and ESPN reported that the team could not use it on her again, so she entered the 2026-27 offseason as an unrestricted free agent. Cox and head coach Stephanie White both called re-signing her a top priority. “I have to be selfish,” Mitchell said of the decision, adding that she would weigh what was best for her career, including winning and her own individual success, per Yahoo Sports. As of Nov. 9, 2026, no new contract had been reported.

The record in context. Her 1,086 points came in a 44-game season. Wilson also passed the old record that same year, and three of the five highest single-season three-point totals came in 2026, per Basketball-Reference. Those who favor season totals point to Mitchell finishing first by both measures. Those who prefer per-game comparisons point out that longer schedules inflate totals compared with earlier eras.

Why it matters

Mitchell is a scorer whose best seasons came late. Over nine seasons she went from No. 2 pick on a rebuilding team to a two-time First Team guard. She first broke through in 2025 while Clark was injured, then set two league records in 2026 playing beside her. Her career has two firsts tied to Clark: Clark broke Mitchell’s Big Ten scoring record in 2024, and two years later they became the first Fever teammates named All-WNBA First Team in the same season. For the Fever, she is the link between the Catchings era and the Clark era. For the league, the single-season points record was hers as of Nov. 9, 2026.