Kelsey Mitchell rarely strays from her level-headed yet competitive persona on the basketball court. She’s just as even-keeled outside of the sport, Indiana Fever teammates describing her as having great energy and sense of humor. But Tiffany Mitchell says not to be fooled by Kelsey's laid-back exterior, she can often be the life of the party. 

But last week, a different set of emotions arose from Mitchell. The fifth-year Fever player was looked over for WNBA All-Star, despite ranking sixth in the league in scoring and top 15 in assists. When Mitchell heard the news, she didn’t have any ill-will toward the league or the players who earned the accolade. But Mitchell thought she made big enough strides to be on this list this season. 

The 24-hour span between Tuesday and Wednesday was admittedly tough for Mitchell. She leaned on her family and interim Fever coach Carlos Knox. She cried to her mom on FaceTime. She thought of all she tried to accomplish so far this season. All of the “blood, sweat and tears you put into it.”

More on WNBA star Kelsey Mitchell:How Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell developed into one of the best scorers in the WNBA

Yet last Wednesday night, Mitchell was the only one who could pick herself back up. She put up a 21-point, five-assist performance in Phoenix. In the middle of Wednesday’s game, Mitchell hit a different milestone. She became the Fever’s third all-time leading scorer — at the age of 26. And in typical Mitchell fashion, she had no knowledge of the accomplishment nor does it hold much weight right now. 

“The bottom line is that this league or any league that you're in professionally focuses on winning, and I haven't done much of that and that's just the reality,” Mitchell said. “Individually, it kind of tells you how far you've come and where you want to go. So those accolades kind of mean a lot from that standpoint, the whole keep grinding ideal of it, but it's still a lot more to be done.”

Mitchell, who is averaging a career-best 18.6 points this season, has never been a fan of personal records or accolades. She actually hates talking about them, especially if it’s a milestone she hasn’t reached yet. She could be one point away from a record yet won’t even want to know about it before the game. 

“I'm one of those people where I can't mentally focus on that kind of stuff because it makes me go crazy,” Mitchell said. “Not because I want to be the best and if I see somebody that's doing better then I'm upset, but it's like, my focus is just playing the game. Whatever comes, comes. And so a lot of times I try not to think about it, I don't want to talk about it.”

The other part of Mitchell’s "phobia," as she calls it, is she doesn’t want to lose sight of why she plays. 

The WNBA season is grueling. Teams typically have one or two days between games and often spend several days on the road at a time. Once the season concludes in September, most players hop on a plane in the next few days or weeks to compete overseas for several months. 

The demands of professional basketball can easily and quickly shift a player’s mentality or alter their purpose for playing. For Mitchell, that purpose has always been family, community and the love for basketball. When Mitchell gets caught up in anything but those reasons, her mental suffers.

Mitchell eyes F scoring record:Fever fall to Mercury for second time; Kelsey Mitchell takes another step in record books

Mitchell experienced that mental slip for the first time during her rookie year. Midway through the 2018 season, she felt physically ill despite being healthy. But she felt uncomfortable in her game, in the league and in her mind. Like most WNBA rookies, Mitchell didn’t even got a month's break between her last college game and her first professional game. The fatigue caught up to her in the middle of the summer and she thought to herself, ‘Wow, can I really do this?’

The Ohio State alum leaned on her family and teammate Tiffany Mitchell (no relation) during that dark time. She remembers Tiffany saying she would see a light at the end of the tunnel soon. Tiffany was right. Mitchell finished the season scoring over 16 points in eight of the final nine games. In that span, she scored 25 points or more three times. 

After a better sophomore season mentally, Mitchell hit her next dark period — the WNBA Bubble in 2020.

The pandemic forced WNBA players into 97 days of isolation. That meant Mitchell spent over two months away from her biggest support system, her family. Even during college and her first couple seasons of professional basketball, Mitchell had never spent that much time away from her family. 

Since Mitchell was 2 years old, she and her three siblings have been connected through basketball. Almost every day, the four would play each other in their basement. Mitchell’s father was a basketball coach so the Mitchell kids spent hours running through the gym and the locker rooms. 

The Mitchell family goes to every Fever home game and tries to get to most away games. They love watching her play, but Mitchell loves seeing her family in the stands even more. One of her older brothers, Kevin, remembers Mitchell being homesick during the 2020 season. 

“I think she was more nervous or more frustrated that her family wasn't around than anything, because she worries about us,” Kevin said. “She always worried about us. We're always on her mind. She always thinks of how she can help us. She always thinks of us first.

"So, I think it was just more fun, and like I said the joy in the game again. Because for a while she was just not enjoying the game. And I think it was more of the wins and losses for her for a little while than just having fun and just 'Oh, I'm here to play.'”

Near the end of that season, Mitchell realized her purpose was much bigger than wins or losses or who was watching. She remembered the little girl who played ball on the concrete with her friends after school. The girl who roamed gyms with her older brothers and sister, picking up random headbands and watching her dad’s teams. 

She remembered why she fell in love with basketball — because it was just fun. 

That realignment in Mitchell’s mentality is obvious to Kevin just by watching his sister play. While Mitchell said she really came into that purpose about a year and a half ago, Kevin said it’s been extremely apparent this season. And it’s refreshing. He hasn’t seen his sister have this much fun with basketball since high school. 

“When she was in high school, she was scoring 30 points a game, 40 points a game,” Kevin said. “When she was in the playoffs, she ended up setting the record and she scored like 50 in the game. She was just playing, she was playing with her sister. And she was happy just playing. It was just no worries like I know, I'm the best. You know how Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant walked on the floor, and they're like, I know I'm the best. I'm LeBron James. I'm the best.’ And that's where she is now. I think she understands, 'I'm great.'”

Mitchell has been the Fever’s leading scorer 16 times in their 23 games this season. And when she’s not shooting the ball, Mitchell often draws enough of the opponent’s defensive attention to free up her teammates for scoring opportunities. 

“She's a workhorse. At the end of the day, Kelsey’s gonna put in the work, and I think it shows,” Tiffany Mitchell said. “We lean on Kelsey a lot to provide a lot of our offense. And I think at times, it can be a lot because she's drawing so much attention. So just trying to balance her being able to still be one of our main scorers, but then also kind of getting off the ball some to kind of release the pressure from her because we don't want her thinking she has to come down every time and be like a superhero.”

Still, Mitchell doesn’t care what her scoring average is or how many times she’s the leading scorer on the Fever. Mitchell wants to win. She knows her career has been filled with very little of that. Indiana has a 36-109 combined record in her five seasons.

Indiana Fever news:Future hope, present frustration on display for Fever in loss to Seattle

Her teammates understand that as well. Tiffany has seen Mitchell’s skills, leadership and voice grow since day one of her pro career. She sees the losses pulling Mitchell back a little. But, Tiffany thinks this is just the start of the Kelsey Mitchell era in Indiana and in the WNBA. She believes those wins will start to follow. 

Mitchell thinks so too. A missed All-Star nomination at 26 doesn’t change that. But neither does becoming the third-highest scorer in franchise history. What matters more is that purpose of family, community, teammates and fulfilling her childhood vision.  

“For me, it's just been kind of understanding that this is a journey. Hopefully, down the stretch of line, I'll be an (All-Star),” Mitchell said. “But I think for me, what's important is the people that's behind me, and the people that love me see me as a value, and I guess I could just leave it at that.”