It is common for WNBA stars to fly overseas and play across the pond in the off-season. However, sometimes these things can take a turn for the worse. As this year’s WNBA season stands concluded, Kelsey Mitchell is willing to explore her options outside the league, however, with the risk of upsetting Caitlin Clark, her Fever teammate.

Having spent the last three years under a contract worth $618,000, Mitchell is now ready to take the risk of playing somewhere completely different.

“I’m gonna do what’s best for me. It’s always going to be a business, so I’m excited to explore free agency. I’ve never been a free agent in my professional career, so I’m excited to see where it goes,” Mitchell shared her thoughts on this new hunch in her professional career.

Now, Mitchell has signed to with the WCBA’s Shanxi Flame, which has previously engaged with WNBA stars like Alyssa Thomas, and Jewell Loyd, to play in the off season. Just after Indiana relieved Christie Sides of her head coaching duties, Mitchell landed in China.

However, she isn’t the only WNBA player to join the Flame. Turns out the Chicago Sky guard, Diamond DeShields too has signed with the franchise to play in the offseason. Now, this integration of Mitchell and DeShields playing together could have a lethal effect on Caitlin Clark, given her rough encounters with the Sky players, DeShields being one of those.

Through their 4 encounters with the Sky this past season, the Fever maintained a 3-1 record over Chicago. Besides, Clark being a generational rookie had to pay the price of that in the form of on-court hate as there were multiple times when she was shoved, pushed, body-checked by the Sky, displaying an unsportsman like behavior.

Bringing the Caitlin Clark matter under microscope

In the month of August, Indiana and Chicago met for the 4th time which ended with the Fever taking a 100-81 win over the Sky. Now, during the game, Clark encountered a sudden crash as Diamond DeShields committed a hard foul on the Fever rookie.

This resulted in Clark being knocked down by DeShields. Even though DeShields kept her hands up to avoid her move to be counted as a foul, the impact of her crash was so strong that it was later declared a flagrant 1. In response, DeShields received a lot of hate comments and angst because of her actions, which she later shared on social media, justifying her move.

Now given the hostile nature of Clark’s encounter with the Sky members, Mitchell playing alongside one of them could potentially trigger those sore experiences for Caitlin Clark as the off season goes in full bloom.