Indiana Fever general manager Amber Cox sat down for an interview with the team’s media department on Thursday and said that re-signing veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell is the organization’s “No. 1 priority” during free agency. In addition, Cox touched on the surprise decision to leave Temi Fagbenle unprotected in the recent expansion draft, and hinted at bigger moves to come.
WNBA free agency does not officially get underway until January. Teams can make qualifying offers and core designations between Jan. 11 and 20, and may then start negotiating with players on Jan. 21. No deals can be signed until Feb. 1, however.
The Fever, coming off their first playoff appearance since 2016, have already made some noise this winter by re-shaping their front office and hiring Stephanie White away from the Connecticut Sun to be their new coach. They enter free agency with $657,639 in cap space, which gives them the ability to sign multiple max players.
It’s clear that they hope one of them will be Mitchell. The former No. 2 overall pick has spent her entire career with the Fever and put up a career-high 19.2 points per game last season while shooting 40.2% from 3-point range. She is an unrestricted free agent and has made it clear she wants to explore that process.
“It’s definitely a lot of emotions and thoughts that flow through my mind. I think everything for me is so fresh, I don’t know what I need and what I’m gonna do,” Mitchell said during her exit interview in September. “I’ve always had a home in Indy, so it could potentially be a home for me again. But I think right now the switching dynamic of my family and everything, I gotta do what’s the best for me. I gotta be selfish about that process.”
The Fever are hopeful that White’s arrival, the ability to play with Caitlin Clark and the chance to finally compete in the playoffs will be enough to convince her to stay.
“That backcourt was about as lethal as we’ve seen in the WNBA, and I’m talking maybe in the history in the second half of the season last year,” Cox said. “We want to reunite Caitlin and Kelsey. And Kelsey, when I think about her and her time in Indiana, and a lot of trials and tribulations throughout her career. For me and for us, I’m most excited for her to be in this moment and experience so much success.”
While Mitchell is the Fever’s main focus, they’ll be looking for other ways to improve the team. In particular, they’ll need help in the frontcourt, especially after the Golden State Valkyries selected Fagbenle in the expansion draft earlier this month. The veteran built a strong partnership with Clark and the team was much better with her on the floor — though that time was limited due to various injuries.
Cox hinted at bigger moves on that front. There are a number of big name forwards hitting free agency this winter, including Satou Sabally, who has been linked to the Fever.
“Temi was obviously an incredible piece to the success last year, but it’s the price we pay for growth,” Cox said. “We’re really excited for Golden State to come on line. It was a decision we made, but a decision that wasn’t in a vacuum, but as part of an overall strategy that hopefully everyone will see unfold throughout the offseason.”
Furthermore, Cox stated that the Fever, who finished 11th in the league in defensive rating last season (107.5), want to improve on that side of the ball and will target “3-and-D” type players. One interesting, almost offhand note was that Cox said they’ve been looking “internationally,” which shows a willingness to be creative in their attempts to build a championship team.
Ultimately, though, “fit is the most important thing,” Cox said. “You gotta have somebody that can run up and down the floor and catch those passes that Caitlin’s gonna be throwing.”
