Kelsey Mitchell explained her emotional disappearance from the Indiana Fever’s 2025 postseason finale against the Las Vegas Aces.
It took much more than a vaccine to finally eradicate Kelsey Mitchell‘s Indiana Fever.
The resilient Fever took the Las Vegas Aces to the brink in their WNBA semifinal series, which ended with Sin City’s 107-98 overtime victory on Tuesday night. Indiana was stopped one win short of reaching the WNBA Finals despite losing the services of Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and more for extended periods.
Mitchell was one of the final casualties of the pressing, yet enduring, 2025 season, forced to leave during third quarter action in what became the finale against the Aces. She addressed her status in a note on her social channels, in a display she hoped would show “love and respect to those who showed it to me.”
— Kelsey Mitchell (@Kelz_Hoop) October 1, 2025
“I suffered from something called Rhabdomyolysis last night,” Mitchell explained. “My muscles stopped producing and reached [their] maximum capacity. i went into a sense of numbness/paralyzing feeling with no movement from my lower extremities for up to five-to-seven seconds.”
“Because my muscles stopped producing positive blood to my bloodstream, my body locked up from a physical standpoint and from there fatigue and cramping settled in. It sucked,” Mitchell continued. “I panicked because i began to think the worse when i felt like i couldn’t move my legs. It was an out of body experience for me and i thank God for covering me at a time like that.”
A study on WebMD describes rhabdomyolysis as “a serious condition caused by a direct or indirect muscle injury” and a phenomenon where “muscle fibers die and release their contents into your bloodstream.” It’s noted that the condition can be fatal “in rare cases” but that “early treatment often brings a good outcome.”
Despite the dire nature of her ailment, Mitchell kept things light in her statement, joking that she “played literally [until her] wheels fell off.” Mitchell was the undeniable driving force behind the Fever’s success this season, averaging a career-best 20.2 points per game and appearing in her third consecutive WNBA All-Star Game.
She averaged 22.3 tallies, a good bit of which came on a 42.9 percent success rate from 3-point range, during the Fever’s playoff run. The sixth-ranked Fever upset the Atlanta Dream in the opening round, earning their first playoff series victory since their last WNBA Finals run in 2015 before falling to the Aces in five.
Though there’s no timetable when she’ll be able to return to basketball activities, the Fever announced that Mitchell is expected to make a full recovery and she ended her own statements on an upbeat, grateful note.
“I want to thank the Fever medical team, Vegas medical team, and the staff at the local hospital for keeping me safe,” Mitchell said. “THANK you for the prayers, love, respect, and support throughout all of this. If you rode with me through this journey, then i love you! 0, out.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
