How Indiana Fever Gave Out Two Historic Contracts In One Week

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MAY 22: Kelsey Mitchell #0, Caitlin Clark #22 and Aliyah Boston #7 of the Indiana Fever react against the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena on May 22, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) Getty Images INDIANAPOLIS – On April 11, the Indiana Fever announced that they had re-signed star guard Kelsey Mitchell to a one-year contract. That alone was not news – star teammate Caitlin Clark called keeping Mitchell a priority , and the Fever sent a core qualifying offer to Mitchell.

That offer made it impossible for her to negotiate with other teams. Her return was expected. Yet her signing was significant in that it was a supermax contract , meaning for the first time ever a Fever player was set to make $1 million in one season.

Mitchell’s deal will pay her 20% of the WNBA’s new salary cap, which is set at $7 million after the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement was agreed to last month. “For nearly a decade, Kelsey has been a foundational piece of the Indiana Fever and securing her return was our highest priority. Kelsey Mitchell is among the top of a long list of great athletes who have elevated not only our city and franchise, but their sport as a whole.

She further cemented her legacy last season, and we hope her return underscores how much she is valued by our entire organization,” Fever general manager Amber Cox said in a press release. Cox mentioned that Mitchell has been with Indiana for nearly a decade, and the salary comparison across those seasons is telling. During Mitchell’s first eight years with the Fever, she made about $1.