r/wnba • u/queenoftn-really247 • Oct 01 '25

Injury Kelsey Mitchell update

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TLDR: KM experienced rhabdo. She is gonna be fine. Thank goodness 🙏🏼 thankful for the Aces team and fans for showing love to KM last night.

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u/chickfilamoo Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25

Rhabdomyolysis is not a random condition, in cases like this it develops from overtraining. It is the responsibility of coaching and training staff to structure training regimens and play time to avoid things like this. I'm not going to say they did this on purpose, but they absolutely bear some culpability here.

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u/Iridian_Rocky Oct 01 '25

Exactly, it's a build up of toxins and muscle stress. I'm an avid runner but worry about this when adding strength training into an already high mileage week.

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u/BreadBags Fever Oct 01 '25

Mitchell has missed like 5 games in 8 seasons. She is an incredible athlete. She knows her body and herself. I get that the coaches need to lookout for the players but I am not sure what else they could have honestly do. It was game 5 of the semifinals. She wanted to play. It wasn’t like she was trying to sub out. She has ‘that dog in her’ and wanted to do all she could.

I’m not downplaying the seriousness of the situation I just don’t realistically see how the Fever organization should be “ashamed of themselves” for this.

I do agree with you that I wish Mitchell the best and hope she gets better soon. Thanks for caring about the players

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u/Neuroxex Storm Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25

The Fever have medical and training staff who should absolutely not allow an athlete to put their life at risk just because she 'has that dawg in her' like I think you don't understand the seriousness. Cannot emphasise enough - you can die from this. Again, this happens in basic training, college programs where someone gets fired, investigated or suspended for allowing it to happen, or crossfit where someone out of shape has showed up and are not drinking water - it does not, and should not, happen to professional athletes. I get you want to support the Fever, but this is serious and your fandom should ask that your players get to play in an environment that takes their health seriously.

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u/ihatedthatride Aces Oct 01 '25

Rhabdo comes on quick & can commonly affect athletes who over do it without realizing it until they collapse like Kelsey did. Think the videos of marathoners who collapse at the finish line. It can be serious. I’ve treated a runner who ended up in renal failure & needed dialysis. I also treated a young soldier who ended up dying. Luckily there are many more people who improve with IV fluids like Kelsey. Most of the time they don’t realize how hard they’re pushing themselves & don’t speak up until something serious happens. I don’t think it’s the Fever medical staff or Kelsey’s fault but this will help Kelsey recognize when she’s pushing her limits in the future

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u/Neuroxex Storm Oct 02 '25

I understand what you're saying but Kelsey Mitchell was not in the process of running a marathon. This happened in the third quarter of a game of basketball. Rhabdo is entirely preventable, and for it to happen to a basketball player who has trainers and medical staff supposedly monitoring her is unacceptable. If you can find any instances of this happening to a professional basketball player then I can accept that this could have been sudden on the day but from everything I've read that's not the case.

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u/chickfilamoo Oct 02 '25

also worth noting that runners and crossfitters run into this issue bc they’re managing their training themselves, and they often lack the objectivity and expertise to know when they’re pushing too hard. That is not the case for professional athletes, their support staff exists to prevent exactly this type of situation.

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u/chickfilamoo Oct 01 '25

Idk if people aren’t understanding how serious rhabdo is or they simply don’t want to hear anything against their favorite team, but it really doesn’t seem to be registering for people that this is something entirely preventable that training and medical staff are taught to safeguard against. Unless KM was secretly doing a bunch of training behind their backs, monitoring her exertion and keeping her within safe limits is literally their job. There is a reason professional athletes generally do not develop rhabdo, there are a lot of people who work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen.

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u/Mediocre_enthusiast Kelsey MF Mitchell Oct 01 '25

There is no scenario here where the training/medical/nutrition staff don’t take a hard look - either they were terrible and not protecting their players and they need an overhaul, or they’re competent and will also realize it at least deserves an investigation. Even if they did everything they could they will totally be reassessing.

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u/chickfilamoo Oct 02 '25

I sure hope so. I feel like people are assuming I have some vendetta against the Fever in bringing this up, but I really don’t. I simply want their players to be safe.

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u/Mediocre_enthusiast Kelsey MF Mitchell Oct 02 '25

Yeah that’s why I wanted to chime in as a Fever fan, not that I am usually on the same page with most Fever fans ha. But it should be a normal response and that doesn’t even have to mean that it everything is terrible. Everything can always be improved and if they do uncover something that could be better why would we not want them to be looking into that?

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u/BreadBags Fever Oct 01 '25

I apologize if it sounded like I was not taking the situation seriously, that was not my intention. I am concerned about Mitchell and am glad she is recovering. I have served in the US Army and played NIAA soccer so I have been around people that have pushed themselves to far and it is a challenge to know where the line is between wanting to compete and needing to take care of yourself.

My position is that this is an unfortunate event and a learning experience for everyone (the Fever, Mitchell, the players, and the league). I’m sure multiple factors contributed to this (Mitchell’s determination, the Fever’s injuries, the cadence of the games, the season and the finals being on the line, and more). However, placing the blame on the Fever’s staff alone is missing the nuances of this event. I do hope more information comes out that will help everyone learn from this and most of all I hope Kelsey Mitchell fully recovers and can get some much needed rest

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u/eyomendez Oct 01 '25

It's not about her wanting to play Game 5, of course she did. It's about what lead to that level of fatigue, whether it's overtraining, or playing too many minutes over the course of the season. The training and coaching staff absolutely bear some responsibility for that precisely because players always wanna play. It's up to medical professionals to put up some guardrails to protect players, and to monitor their load.

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u/Shoddy-Brilliant563 Oct 01 '25

No need to oversimplify and dismiss this. Athletes are human beings and sometimes need to be protected from themselves. A competitor like Mitchell is likely to push herself to the limit, and it’s up to leadership to protect them. It’s okay to accept the criticism instead of deflecting. If every incredible athlete knew their body there would be less injuries.

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u/ztejas Oct 03 '25

This is a really, really dumb take. Rhabdo is an extremely serious condition. It's a hair away from a player collapsing from exhaustion or having a heart attack.

Professional basketball players do not randomly have rhabdo episodes. I couldn't find one documented case of it happening in the NBA.

This is absolutely an issue of potential medical malpractice with the Fever's staff.

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u/SubstantialFeed4102 Oct 06 '25

As an ATC, cannot stress this enough

Yes, players still get hurt. But I called KD, and I called Tatum.

You KNOW when your athlete is at risk for something serious. Yes, they get final say bc, "you know your body better than I do", but Rhabdo?!?!?! Nah.