Kelsey Mitchell’s future, Caitlin Clark extension and 3 more takeaways from Fever exit interviews

The Fever did not expect to be reflecting on their season on Saturday morning.

Built on the back of a historic offense, Indiana felt it had a real chance to make a deep playoff run. But a “buzzsaw,” as general manager Amber Cox called them, in the Aces ended their season for the second consecutive year.

“That part sucks, man,” Kelsey Mitchell said. “I thought we had put in a lot of work to be the last couple of teams standing. It was unfortunate. It sucked. It hurt to not really be the last four standing.”

Instead of being one of those final four teams still playing, the Fever now head into an offseason with some similar questions as years prior, but also still in need of notable improvements.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from the team’s exit interviews.

For a second straight offseason, Mitchell’s free agency will be “priority number one,” as head coach Stephanie White put it, for the Fever. Different this time around is that Indiana can not core Mitchell, leaving open the real possibility that she signs with another franchise for the first time in her career.

“I have to be selfish,” Mitchell said of her impending free agency. “I think that’s where I am in my career about what I probably need and what’s probably best for me, so I have to be selfish in that room.”

Reading between the lines, Mitchell sounded like someone content with moving on while acknowledging how much the Fever have meant to her career. Mitchell’s nine-year career has played out entirely in Indiana and she’s seen the fruits of her labor in recent seasons, including this year, where she was in MVP conversations.

However, with the Fever navigating a salary cap crunch, the added eyes and attention that come with playing alongside Caitlin Clark and being content with what she’s accomplished with the Fever, the possibility of Mitchell leaving felt very real.

“I think it’s about figuring out what I need, figuring out what my family needs,” she said. “Ultimately figuring out, I’m getting older, I’m not getting younger, unfortunately. But I’ve obviously built a Fever family here, so it’s like whatever conversation I have to have, I’ll have them.

“I just think it’s kind of too early for me to really tell what I need to do, but I wouldn’t be here without Indiana. Everything I am is kind of instilled and everything I’ve grown to be is kind of the Fever and so it’s a lot to kind of hash out and figure out. But I guess TBD.”

There wasn’t a ton of discussion about Caitlin Clark on Saturday as she was a bit preoccupied in Iowa City in the morning. Her name still came up a fair amount, obviously, including Cox revealing that the team plans to have conversations with her about an Exceptional Performance on Initial Contract (EPIC) extension.

“I would say the other priority is Caitlin has earned the opportunity to sign her EPIC extension,” Cox said. “So we’re really excited to talk to her and her team about that.”

Last offseason, the Fever signed Aliyah Boston to an EPIC extension, but one that came in at a lower number in the first year to give the team wiggle room to build out the roster. Will Clark be willing to do something similar, potentially allowing the team to both offer Mitchell her max and add pieces around the Big 3?

To that point, continuity with their stars was emphasized multiple times. The Fever saw what keeping together a superstar core can do with the Aces in the last two seasons and are hoping to replicate that.

“We want to keep these three together,” Cox said. “I think you’ve seen in the history of the league, and obviously the team we just played, when you’re able to do that, that consistency is really, really important, and that’s how you build the continuity and get to a place where you’re consistently winning championships.”

Boston and Clark will be around for a number of years in some form or fashion. A lot of those continuity questions center around Mitchell, harkening back to the importance of her decision for the Fever’s offseason.

In identifying holes in the roster, one of the biggest ones, figuratively and literally, was front court depth.

While Boston was the mainstay, the Fever cycled through Monique Billings, Myisha Hines-Allen and Makayla Timpson alongside her in the starting lineup. Only Timpson stuck at the end of the year, though her minutes dwindled in the postseason.

Finding consistency around Boston, then, was one of the areas highlighted by both Cox and White as a focus point this offseason.

“Our front court depth needs to be better,” Cox said. “I think we have to look at who are we putting around her. It starts there…But that’s an area we have to shore up, I think, moving forward. Make sure we’ve got some depth behind AB at the center or the four, what that becomes, moving forward.”

Cox spoke about Boston’s development as an outside shooter also changing the dynamics of what the frontcourt makeup needs to be. This season, she shot 40.6% from the 3-point line on 2.7 attempts per game, by far a career year from range.

After being a back-to-the-basket center coming into the league, Boston’s ability to stretch the floor opens up more possibilities for bigs around her, which the front office plans to evaluate.

By some statistical measures, including offensive rating, the Fever had the greatest offense in WNBA history. One of the big reasons they were doing exit interviews on Saturday and not preparing for the next round of the playoffs was the other end of the court.

Indiana ranked eighth in defensive rating, 11th in points allowed per game and ninth in opponent field goal percentage. By basically all metrics, they were one of the worst defenses in the league.

And they were well aware.

“We got to make sure we’ve got people on the perimeter that can shut down some of these elite scorers in the league, which is not easy, on a nightly basis,” Cox said.

“I thought there were moments where we did [defend well] and I think it’s just about being able to have that mentality consistently,” White added. “Our teams in the old days had Tamika [Catchings] who really set that tone. We have great offensive players who set the tone on the offensive end. So I think just finding ways to blend more consistency in both has got to be the goal.”

As exciting as this year’s Fever were — and they were must-see TV at their best — it’s not an approach that has ever won a title. They know they need to be more balanced with big improvements defensively.

It’ll be part of the many decisions, big and small, that await the Fever this offseason.