More success and more problems for the Indiana Fever? The team is 2-0 since the Olympic break and Caitlin Clark has set another record, but speculation has emerged about Kelsey Mitchell’s future.
Prior to the trade deadline, some fans were calling for the Indiana Fever (13-15) to make a move involving Lexie Hull, Katie Lou Samuelson or both. Hull has just started one game this season and her minutes are significantly down in comparison to the previous season, while Samuelson lost her starting spot to Olympic bronze-medalist Kristy Wallace for a significant part of the season.
Instead of GM Lin Dunn, it was Caitlin Clark who decided to act, going on a vacation to Mexico with Hull and Samuelson during the Olympic break. Did the move work? Hull made 6-of-7 of 3-pointers in the in the win over the Seattle Storm on Sunday, Aug. 18 as she scored a career-high 22 points. Samuelson, in contrast, has made 1-of-7 of her field goal attempts in the two games since the break, so there’s some room for improvement. But Hull, apart from being one of the best defenders on the team this season, has added “long-distance threat” to her resume. And no one has been happier about it than Clark.
This is now a Lexie Hull fan account
— Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) August 18, 2024
Speaking of which, Clark set another record, this time for most assists by a rookie with 232 (and counting). The former record of 224 stood for 26 years and was set by Ticha Penicheiro, who needed 30 games and an average of 7.5 dimes per contest. Clark has been averaging 8.3 assists per game and played in 28 games so far. Apart from stellar passing, she scored 29 points in the win over the Phoenix Mercury on Friday, Aug. 16, while she scored 23 points against the Storm. She’s now the team’s leading scorer with 17.8 points per game.
Close behind her is Kelsey Mitchell with 17.7 points per game. Mitchell’s contract expires after the season. Will she leave the only WNBA team she has ever played for? Seven years into her career, she’s yet to appear in a single playoff game. When talking to Chloe Peterson of the Indianapolis Star, Dunn pointed to that as one of the deciding factors as to whether Mitchell will stay in Indy:
When the season’s over, we’ll sit down and talk about the future, You know, I want Kelsey to be happy, and I want her to feel like she can achieve all the goals that she has here, but that remains to be seen, you know, based on the experiences she’s already had in the past.
What’s next for the Fever?
An undefeated 2-0 since the post-Olympic resumption of play, the Fever will play five games over the next seven days, four of them away from home.
First, on Saturday, Aug. 24, they play the Lynx in Minnesota. On Monday, Aug. 26, they’ll be in Atlanta facing the Dream. Then, it’s back home in Indianapolis on Wednesday, Aug. 28 to meet the Connecticut Sun (and Celeste Taylor in her first game back after being cut). They’ll write another chapter in their rivalry with the Sky in Chicago on Friday, Aug. 30. The stretch will end on Sunday, Sept. 1 in Dallas against the unpredictable Wings.