Caitlin Clark's absence leaves Fever needing this key veteran to save them

This season hasn't started the way fans had hoped for the Indiana Fever. Going into a championship-or-bust season carries a lot of pressure for everyone involved. The Fever dropped their second game without an injured Caitlin Clark in the lineup, 85-83, to an 0-5 Connecticut Sun team at home.

The panic and frustration is now palpable amongst the fan base with the set date for Clark's return still yet to be determined.

The Fever's recipe for success runs through Caitlin Clark, but veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell's 2024 campaign can't go unacknowledged. After all, she was an All-Star and was a crucial piece to the Fever's run last season after helping them reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Chemistry between her and Clark quickly built, and this is currently a key missing component to Mitchell's game as of late, after already getting off to a slow start statistically.

Immediate success for the Fever will have to involve Mitchell becoming more consistent.

Mitchell certainly has not yet put up the numbers as she did last season. Her lack of production (with the team already missing a key piece) has been significant in their lack of success. With half of the best backcourt in the league missing, much of the pressure has been put on Mitchell to carry the workload. In the loss to Connecticut, she shot 4-of-15 from the field and finished with a well-below-average 13 points. These numbers won't cut it if the team hopes to get back on track.

Kelsey Mitchell has to step up for the Indiana Fever to be successful

She air-balled the very last possession of the game after taking the inbound on what ended up being a sloppy play. That's one way to describe the Fever's overall performance as of late: sloppy. Tempo and rhythm have been non-existent, there has been messy passing, and the turnover count is way too high.

To no surprise, Mitchell has seen a slight increase in minutes, adding to an already heavy workload.

She played a whopping 35 minutes in Friday night's loss. This is yet another concern raised with Clark's absence: players becoming fatigued. Now with Sydney Colson going down Friday night, the guard position is even more thin. It's difficult for a player to put a team on her back while facing her own struggles, but the Fever will have to hope Mitchell is up to the challenge.

Her best performance this season came against the team's first meeting with the Atlanta Dream, where she finished with 24 points and shot 60% from the field. Her numbers have steadily declined since this game. She only shot 26% from the field against the Sun in their most recent game.

Long-term success for Mitchell doesn't center around Clark's return. She is a veteran who was putting up big numbers prior to Clark's arrival. She hit double-digit point totals in all but four games in the year prior to Clark joining the Fever. The Fever's overall struggles these last two games aren't exclusively a Caitlin Clark problem.

The game has to come to her, and she has to take what is given in terms of defensive looks, as she has emphasized in recent post-game remarks. Shots are going to fall, and the chemistry amongst her newest teammates will come over time. Playing for an almost entirely new coaching staff will take adjusting to find her fit in the system. Setting the tone and keeping a fast pace is what Mitchell is best at and what she has to revert to.

Mitchell's all-out effort hasn't slowed, which should leave Fever fans optimistic that a strong finish is coming for their veteran guard. The Fever return to competition Tuesday at home against the Washington Mystics.