Between Stephanie White's interview on the "Fever Insider LIVE" podcast this week and Kelsey Mitchell's stop by Sue Bird's podcast "Bird's Eye View," Fever fans are getting a lot of behind the scenes info about how the team made a tumultuous season work. Mitchell was asked how the Fever coped with the unexpected loss first of Caitlin Clark, and then of Aari McDonald, who was brought on to the roster to help mitigate and navigate the best steps forward.
As Mitchell explained it, the Fever ended up deploying a kind of three-part strategy between Aerial Powers, Shey Peddy, and Odyssey Sims. All three players ended up playing crucial roles in getting the Fever to the playoffs and becoming a very serious threat to the Aces' path toward the Championship, something Mitchell said happened in part because no one on the team tried to be Clark — they just played to their own strengths and worked together to fill in the gaps from her absence.
"The one thing that I appreciated about Ariel, O (Odyssey Sims), and Shey was that whatever program that we, you know, that they saw that we had, they didn’t interrupt it. You know, they kind of just complimented it," Mitchell explained.
Powers, Sims, and Peddy are each very different players than Clark is, and any attempt at doing what Clark does on the court would have likely been futile. By being themselves, they each proved to the team and to fans that the Fever could still be a potent force on the court — and that they each belonged on the team's roster.
Clark is a ball-heavy and dominant player on the court who can shoot and create opportunities for herself and for her teammates.
"Ariel’s ability to have energy in a room and kind of in practice was like it was a small game changer for us. And then ability to be another creator and being able to like you know draw and being able to like kind of be a great guard and compliment myself, and then Shey being able to shoot the ball and kind of see the floor as a older PG but from a mental standpoint was like small game changes and it was dope because it could have not been that way," Mitchell also said.
The Fever will have to make tough roster decisions soon
If there is one giant concern hanging over the heads of the Fever's roster and of fans, it's the fact that not everyone who ended the season on the team's roster will be able to remain there. While it's possible that, if signed, a new CBA could expand roster sizes, there are no guarantees. The Fever ended the 2025 season with 16 players total, well over the 12 that the WNBA allows.
Both Coach Stephanie White and GM Amber Cox have made it clear that retaining Mitchell on the roster is a major priority for the team as the WNBA marches toward free agency, but it's less clear how the team will negotiate with Mitchell — or with other fan favorites, like Lexie Hull and Sophie Cunningham, in addition to Powers, Peddy, and Sims.