With a lot of work still pending on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, WNBA players and fans are worried about the 2026 season. The WNBPA recently lowered its revenue-sharing demands, while the league also raised its salary offers and salary-cap value. But minimal changes are still delaying the talks, and Kelsey Mitchell recently discussed the impact of this delay on players.
The Fever guard is one of the top free agents in the 2026 season and is unclear about her future franchise. While talking about the ‘uncertainty’, she also saw a positive side to it.
Kelsey Mitchell Sees Positive Side Of CBA Delay
The 2018 WNBA Rookie had been one of the top names in the league for her consistency and explosive scoring. While she enters the 2026 season as an unrestricted free agent, there are speculations about her future with the Fever team. The player also didn’t openly commit to the franchise she served for eight years.
While the uncertainty is partly due to stalled CBA talks, the 30-year-old sees the positive side of it, too. In a discussion with WNBA legend Lisa Leslie on the “Between the Lines” show, she said, “I think that it pushed [Hive BC] closer. I can’t speak for every team at Unrivaled, but our team, specifically, a lot of us are in free agency on that team.”
Kelsey Mitchell opens up on how CBA negotiations have impacted the experience at UNRIVALED.
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) February 19, 2026
Presented by @turbotax pic.twitter.com/UBjwgVNydV
“None of us knows what our future holds, which is scary. I’ll be honest with you, it’s scary. But on the flip side, it’s like, none of us know what our future holds. And so when we have these conversations about what we want to do, and what we do see, where we want to go potentially, it comes from a place of understanding,” Mitchell continued.
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The WNBPA leaders emphasize unity as their strength in the discussion, and it looks like the WNBA delay is helping the players’ association more.
While the player is concerned about her WNBA future, she is shining bright on the Unrivalled courts. Though her Hive BC is virtually out of the playoff race, she is delivering clutch performances for her team and recently won the fourth game of the season.
Kelsey Mitchell Becomes Villain for Rose BC Again
KM was the Indiana Fever’s key player over the years, delivering many match-winning performances. At Unrivaled, too, the former Ohio State player dropped many stellar performances and dropped two match winners.
Her recent match winner came against Rose BC, who were high on Angel Reese’s return and had a chance to push for the final playoff spot in season 2. But the crafty-lefty scored a team-high 27 points and dropped a game-winning layup on Reese to win the nail-biting contest by an 80-78 score-line.
Kelsey Mitchell calls game over Angel Reese 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 pic.twitter.com/u3M5cvUKl7
— ericaf455 (@ericaf455) February 21, 2026
Interestingly, the Fever guard’s first game-winner of the season was against the Rose BC, only, which was Hive BC’s first win. After the loss, the defending champions are fifth on the league table, and their chances of qualifying for the next round are slipping away.