Fever Star Kelsey Mitchell Provides Crucial Injury Update Ahead of WNBA Playoffs
The Indiana Fever play their first WNBA playoff game since 2016 on Sunday.
Because they were already locked into the No. 6 seed before their final regular season game against the Washington Mystics, most of the Fever's top players (namely Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston) played minimal minutes relative to how often they're usually on the court.
Yet, Mitchell appeared to injure her leg in the first quarter of the game. This caused the elite guard to head to the locker room, only to return in the second quarter and not re-enter the game.
This incited panic among Fever fans that Mitchell may not be ready to go for Sunday's game against the Connecticut Sun.
But then Saturday brought good news. First, Mitchell was not wearing any sort of brace on her leg during practice.
Blue Team getting up jumpers at today’s Fever practice in Connecticut. Kelsey Mitchell is with the group too. To me, I can’t see braces of any kind/of the like. pic.twitter.com/tJEueecMgM
— Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) September 21, 2024
Then Mitchell did more to quell concerns when speaking with the media after Indiana's practice ended.
"I feel great," Mitchell said about the injury, per Matthew Byrne. "Hopefully you guys saw me, I didn’t think I looked bad. I feel great, I think for us it was just about precautions. Prevention, so to speak. And it felt good to see the other end and celebrate the ones that were on the floor the other day."
When a reporter asked to confirm that her leg was feeling good, Mitchell said, "Oh yeah, I feel great."
Kelsey Mitchell on her status: “I feel great. Hopefully you guys saw me, I didn’t think I looked bad. I feel great, I think for us it was just about precautions.”
— Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) September 21, 2024
— continued that it was the best of both worlds in Washington to see the bench unit out there. pic.twitter.com/GdaSFmgwHG
The Fever dodged a potentially disastrous situation with that one. Now they're fully healthy heading into what's sure to be a thrilling series against the Sun.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.