The Indiana Fever have two MVP candidates — and a real chance at the WNBA title

Thanks to an overtime victory against the Atlanta Dream on Sunday night, the Indiana Fever have won four straight games. They’re 23-12, owners of the fourth-best record in the WNBA, and if the playoffs were to start today, they’d host the Atlanta Dream in the first round of the playoffs.

For Indiana, it’s been an up-and-down season — filled with plenty of highs and plenty of lows. A litany of off-court storylines have dominated their year, from Sophie Cunningham’s controversial comments on trans women in sports, to hard fouls that have taken on a life of their own, to Fever fans booing head coach Stephanie White. These controversies have dominated so much that the (elite) on-court product has almost flown under the radar.

But the Fever are just two games behind the Golden State Valkyries for second place in the standings. They have the third-best point differential in the league, and two legitimate MVP candidates in Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark, who are the league’s second and third-leading scorers, trailing only four-time MVP A’ja Wilson.

Clark is averaging 22 points and 8.3 assists, while putting together the most efficient season of her career, shooting 45% from the field and 35.4% from three. Mitchell is averaging 24.2 points on 50.3% shooting, while hitting 43.7% of her threes.

Both players came up huge in Sunday’s overtime win over the Atlanta Dream, with Clark finishing with 26 points and 9 assists and Mitchell adding 20 points. Mitchell has now scored at least 20 points in 19 consecutive games, the longest single-season streak in WNBA history. Clark has scored at least 25 points in 8 games this season, becoming the first-ever point guard to accomplish that feat.

The two players are routinely compared, especially since both have become legitimate MVP candidates. At Fever practice last year, fellow teammate and co-star Aliyah Boston deemed Mitchell the league’s MVP, likely inadvertently adding fuel to the fire.

“Honestly, [Mitchell is] really just the MVP,” Boston said, per James Boyd. “I think that’s just what she’s been doing. Every single night you see her come out, and she drops I don’t even know how many points at this rate. She defends her butt off… she does exactly what she needs to do, so I’m really proud of her.”

It’s hard to compare the two: Mitchell is a pure scorer and has been more efficient this season, but Clark is a far superior playmaker who bends opposing teams’ defenses and creates for others. Both players have established themselves among the league’s best scorers.

The good news for Indiana? They have both players.

And, in turn, they have a legitimate shot at a WNBA title. The Fever have the league’s best offensive rating at 96.2 and field goal percentage at 48.7%. In addition to Mitchell and Clark, they have another perennial All-Star in Aliyah Boston. Boston is averaging 17 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, rounding out Indiana’s Big 3 and bolstering the team’s frontcourt.

Indiana has benefitted from other contributors, too. Second-year forward Makayla Timpson has found her footing; on Sunday, she poured in a career-high 20 points to go along with 7 rebounds. Cunningham is shooting 45.3% from three off the bench, and Monique Billings is averaging 7.3 points and 5.2 rebounds.

Last year, the Stephanie White-led squad was just a few minutes removed from a WNBA Finals appearance, and that was with Clark sidelined for the entirety of the postseason. Now, with Clark playing the best basketball of her career, Indiana might have what it takes to get to the mountaintop.