Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark addressed comments her teammate Kelsey Mitchell recently made about the difficulties of playing in the spotlight with Clark and handling some negative comments from fans.
“As her teammate, that makes you upset because you care about your teammates so much,” Clark said Thursday at a routine news conference following the end of the Fever’s season. “You don’t want any of them to go through something like that. For the people that follow me, obviously there is such a microscope on me, and that comes with everybody else that I’ve been teammates with, whether that was my time at Iowa or whether that’s been here. It comes with a lot of really great things and then at times there are some negatives. As far as people that have used me to demonstrate racist rhetoric or hate or discrimination, that’s not something I stand for. It’s never been something I’ve stood for. For those of you who know me, you know that’s not what I’m about. That’s not how I was raised. So that’s really disappointing when people do that.”
Mitchell, who is an unrestricted free agent after her career season, said it “hasn’t always been easy” to be a Fever player, citing direct messages she’s received.
Clark said she’s talked to Mitchell since the season ended and expressed a desire to continue playing together.
“She knows how much I love her,” Clark said. “There’s nobody I’d want to share a backcourt with other than her. … I often tell her, I feel like I have the best seat in the house every single night. I get to watch you do your thing and be right next to you and be on the other side of the ball with you. I know this organization, we’re going to work our butt off to get her back.”
Clark and Mitchell combined for 47 points per game to rank as the highest-scoring teammates in WNBA history. Mitchell, who has played all nine of her WNBA seasons in Indiana, scored a career-best 24.7 points per game this season.
The Fever lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Las Vegas Aces, 2-1.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Indiana Fever, WNBA
2026 The Athletic Media Company