Caitlin Clark Mocks Raptors-Tempo Arena as Fever Lose Kelsey Mitchell to Overheating

The WNBA introduced two expansion teams this season, which meant the likes of Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and their Fever teammates would have to travel to new destinations and play in never-before-used arenas.

Last season, when the Golden State Valkyries broke ground, their opponents were surprised by the atmosphere Chase Center brought to the league. Their passionate fan base left teams rethinking how to improve their own game experiences.

The two new teams this year learned from the Warriors’ sister franchise, which is why the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo have regularly sold out arenas despite this being their inaugural year.

However, the Fever tends to force teams to lease NBA-size arenas courtesy of a certain Miss Clark. Her fans are all across the country, and as the Tempo found out, even in Canada.

Ticket demand forced them to relocate to Scotiabank Arena, home of their big-brother franchise, the Toronto Raptors. With 19,300 fans packed to the brim, it was surely an experience. But for a certain Kelsey Mitchell, it was not something her body was happy with.

Maybe if Canada had air conditioning, that would probably be helpful. It’s a million degrees in here. Hopefully, she’ll be ok, but we surely miss her.

Caitlin Clark told Holly Rowe

The superstar replied to the ESPN reporter’s question about Mitchell leaving the game midway. The All-Star guard ‘overheated,’ and Fever medical personnel advised her to sit out to avoid cramps this late in the season.

Caitlin Clark when asked about having to finish the game without Kelsey Mitchell:

"Maybe if Canada had air conditioning, that would probably be helpful. It's a million degrees in here."

(via @OmerOsman200)pic.twitter.com/SuPEDdgMG3

— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) August 19, 2026

This was Caitlin Clark‘s way of asking the arena operators to crank up the air conditioning system since the heat forced the team to play without Mitchell for a while.

Kelsey Mitchell’s uncanny tussle with Marina Mabrey set the tone for her performance

Kelsey Mitchell has been on a hot streak for quite a while. If she continues to produce in this manner, she could upstage A’ja Wilson in the record for most 20+ point games in the next game.

But in this battle against the Toronto Tempo, the 30-year-old could have broken her own personal career-high points, had she not left in the fourth quarter. The star was already playing well in the game, scoring 29 points. But then an incident happened, and she turned it up a notch.

With nine minutes left in the third quarter, Mitchell tangled with the usually feisty Marina Mabrey. That led the Fever star to point her finger at the latter and mouth something to the tune of ‘don’t do that.’

Kelsey Mitchell had words for Marina Mabrey after this play.

Both players were assessed technical fouls for this interaction 😳 pic.twitter.com/gogIEWdI8k

— ESPN (@espn) August 19, 2026

This caught commentators by surprise, who remarked that the Ohio native never loses her cool. After that, she went on a tear, scoring quite a few points and drawing fouls.

But the heat eventually got to her, and she had to leave the game to take care of her body. Had she stayed, it is possible that she would have continued to tear the Tempo apart and possibly even eclipse her career-high.

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese set WNBA’s all-time viewership record

If 19,300 fans could pack Scotiabank Arena to watch a WNBA game, this battle could also set a team record for viewership. Naturally, most of the credit goes to Caitlin Clark, who drew quite a considerable number of fans wearing her Fever No. 22 jersey.

This has been a recurring theme this season, as most of the top-rated games this season have involved the Indianapolis-based squad. In fact, before this battle, the Iowa native helped the league set a new viewership record, with some help from longtime rival Angel Reese.

The August 16 Indiana Fever vs. Atlanta Dream game on ESPN is now the most-watched WNBA regular season game ever on cable, averaging 2.6 million viewers and peaking at 4 million! https://t.co/dT0hYG25vA

— WNBA Communications (@WNBAComms) August 18, 2026

Their previous overtime battle drew an average of 2.6 million viewers, peaking at 4 million. This became the most-watched regular-season game ever. These numbers reinforce the fact that Caitlin Clark is the WNBA’s biggest draw.

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