Indiana Fever star Kelsey Mitchell said she must take a “selfish” approach to her future, appearing to criticize sections of the team’s own fanbase in the process.

Indiana’s season ended abruptly Thursday night, when the Fever were eliminated from the WNBA playoffs after losing Game 3 to the Las Vegas Aces.

With the Fever’s 2026 campaign now over, Mitchell is heading toward unrestricted free agency after producing the best season of her career.

General manager Amber Cox and head coach Stephanie White both said Saturday that keeping Mitchell in Indiana was a major priority. The four-time All-Star, however, suggested that securing her return may prove difficult.

Mitchell explained that she would have to put her own needs first when weighing her free-agency options, with her experience of the Fever fanbase potentially playing a significant role in that decision.

“I have to be selfish,” Mitchell said during her end-of-season media availability Saturday. “I think that’s where I am in my career … what I probably need and what’s probably best for me. So I have to be selfish in that room.”

“But ultimately, being on the Fever and being part of an organization that comes with a lot of ups and downs, what factors in and what’s important to me is obviously having good chemistry on and off the floor. I’ve only been with one team my entire career, so I’m figuring all of this out. It’s hard, man.”

She continued: “There’s a lot to hash out. I just think I’ve got to be a little selfish about where my career is going in terms of the things that become important as I get older, whether that’s winning or my own individual success. I worked my tail off to be here, though, man. So whatever I do, it’s going to come from a selfish standpoint. I’ll be honest about that.”

Mitchell delivered a career-best campaign, setting WNBA single-season records for points scored and three-point field goals made.

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Her backcourt partnership with Caitlin Clark also became a crucial part of the Fever’s success throughout the season.

Although Mitchell acknowledged that playing alongside Clark will be an important consideration, she also indicated that the intense attention surrounding Clark’s supporters could make a return to Indiana less appealing.

“Showing up every day to compete for fans who may or may not like you is hard,” Mitchell said Saturday. “… I think this organization is unbelievable, man, but when it comes to really trying to be yourself, it hasn’t always been easy.”

“I don’t think people really understand how much we endure,” Mitchell added. “If I showed you all my DMs about the hate and everything that comes with being a professional athlete, but specifically being an Indiana Fever basketball player, it’s a lot. Those days are hard as hell, man.”

“Playing with [Clark] and having the eyes that she has on her, we get a lot of flak simply because we’re on her team.”

The Fever were frequently at the center of league headlines this season, forcing the players to deal with sustained attention and outside pressure.

Supporters were repeatedly angered by incidents involving physical play against Clark, with many believing officials failed to make calls in favor of the star. Those moments often prompted fans to accuse the league of not doing enough to protect its superstar.

Sophie Cunningham also triggered controversy with remarks about “protecting young girls” in sports, drawing the WNBA into a wider debate over transgender athletes.

Most recently, the Fever’s fans were back in the spotlight after Aces star A’ja Wilson was caught in a heated exchange with one during Game 2. 

Wilson was seen storming towards a fan who was seated in the second row, pointing at him and shouting, ‘You don’t point at me,’ towards him during the fourth quarter of the game.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is too political, biased and unethical to conduct a fair investigation into seven Cornell University fraternity members accused of raping a female classmate, elected officials and other critics told The Post.

Critics point to James’ social media expression of sympathy for the accuser days before Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed her Friday as special prosecutor in the escalating scandal. James has declined to comment on accusations that her prior remarks raise questions about her impartiality.

Rensselaer County Executive Steven McLaughlin, whom James indicted in 2021 on grand larceny and election fraud charges before a jury acquitted him, said the “Cornell Seven” should “expect the worst.” He called his own case evidence that the Democratic attorney general is “anything but impartial.”

“She’s clearly engaged in targeted persecutions and prosecutions,” the Republican official said. “She targeted me. She targeted the president.”

“In my case, she spent over $1 million trying to nail me over absolutely nothing. She is clearly engaged in targeted political hits. I don’t know all the facts of the case, but I am sure she is going to try and nail these guys rather than let justice prevail.”

McLaughlin joined a growing list of critics echoing President Trump, who said Friday that the Cornell Seven would not receive a “fair shake” with James overseeing the case because the attorney general is a “corrupt person.”

James secured a $454 million civil judgment against Trump’s business over allegations that it inflated the value of its assets. A state appeals court overturned that decision last year.

“Much like with the legal action she brought against the president, Attorney General Tish James appears to have already drawn her own conclusions about this incident, without gathering all the facts,” said City Councilman Frank Morano (R-Staten Island).

“I don’t know how anyone could expect her to be fair and objective.”

Council Minority Leader David Carr said James “has a well-documented history of making highly charged public statements about people she is investigating and prosecuting.”

“That is exactly the wrong background for a special prosecutor in a case where impartiality is everything,” said the Staten Island Republican.

“She was publicly characterizing this case before she was even appointed. The allegations deserve to be investigated aggressively, but the accused also deserve due process.”

Melissa DeRosa, a former senior aide to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also questioned the appointment. DeRosa has accused James of conducting an unfair sexual harassment investigation that contributed to the resignation of her Democratic boss in 2021.

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“I think Kathy Hochul was trying to come up with a political solution to a media storm,” DeRosa said Friday on Fox and Friends.

“Tish James is known to be highly political. Her track record in general is highly political, and I would argue in this instance in particular you need to go the other way and make sure what is being done is not about headline grabbing and not about politics but true to the law.”

Joe Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said he has “zero faith” that James will use discretion and apply the law impartially in the investigation.

“I think an independent outsider should have been appointed to do this,” he said. “That Facebook post was ridiculous.”

Hochul’s office did not respond to messages Saturday, while James avoided questions about her role in the case during an unrelated event in the Bronx.

Hochul defended the appointment Friday, telling reporters she has “every confidence” in James “to do what she has always done: look at the facts, examine the record and draw the proper conclusions.”

“That’s exactly what’s going to happen in this case,” she said.

The case became national news when a “Jane Doe” defendant filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court last month accusing seven fraternity brothers of raping her at the Cornell’s Phi Chi fraternity house in October 2024.

The 101-page lawsuit alleges the men plied her with alcohol and ketamine and subjected her to an hours-long sexual assault. 

While she was being assaulted, one of the men allegedly sent a message to a 50-person fraternity Snapchat group called “Chi Phi Actives,” declaring there was “free p–sy” in the house.

All of the Cornell Seven have denied wrongdoing.

Cornell conducted an internal probe at the time via the Title IX investigative process, which involved 12 hearings. Doe’s lawsuit claims her alleged attackers only got a slap on the wrist — with just two of the seven expelled from the university.

The case was never prosecuted further, and it was revealed that not all of Doe’s statements and evidence in the case were sent to the local prosecutor.

— Additional reporting by Tina Moore

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico held a fundraiser in Manhattan with hosts linked to an organization that supports access to gender-transition medications and surgery for minors, despite saying weeks earlier that he would support a federal ban on such surgeries.

During a Sept. 8 interview with Fox News, the Democratic Texas legislator—who is challenging Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in a closely watched November election—said he would vote for a nationwide prohibition on gender surgery for minors if elected to the Senate.

Talarico, 37, also said he had been “consistent on this issue.” He argued that his previous vote against a Texas proposal banning transgender surgeries for minors was based on his view that the bill was “overly broad.”

The apparent tension between those statements and his recent fundraising event drew criticism. According to TexasScoreCard.com, Tuesday’s Greenwich Village reception was hosted by three board members of the Human Rights Campaign or its foundation, an organization that advocates what it describes as “gender-affirming care” for transgender minors.

The event hosts were Morgan Cox, a member of the HRC board; author Andrew Solomon, who serves on the HRC Foundation Board of Directors; and former US Ambassador to Spain James Costos, who sits on the boards of both organizations, according to the fundraiser’s invitation.

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest LGBTQ political advocacy and lobbying organization in the United States.

A guide published by the HRC Foundation says puberty blockers may be prescribed to adolescents and states that “some trans youth may benefit from gender-affirming surgery,” although it adds that such procedures are rarely available to people under 17.

The guide also includes a chart outlining what it calls the “Common Steps in Gender Transition.” Those steps include puberty blockers for “early- to mid-adolescents,” as well as cross-sex hormone treatment, including testosterone for biological females and estrogen combined with an androgen inhibitor for biological males.

The fundraiser’s ticket prices began at $1,000 for an individual and reached $13,500 for the top “Champion” level, according to the event listing.

Critics portrayed the event as another example of what they described as Talarico’s shifting positions, arguing that he was accepting financial support from HRC-linked figures while publicly distancing himself from gender surgery for minors.

“James Talarico will say anything to get elected; he will change his positions depending on who’s in the room,” said Madison Cercy, a spokeswoman for the Paxton campaign.

“No matter how much flip-flopping he may do, he will remain a radical Democrat who wrote a bill to eliminate the oil and gas industry, fought for passing a state income tax, and the moment he’s sworn in, he’ll begin pushing his radical trans agenda once again,” Cercy said.

“Most Texans believe protecting kids isn’t up for negotiation, and it certainly isn’t for sale at a Manhattan fundraiser,” she added.

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Zach Kraft, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, likewise accused Talarico of frequently changing his positions.

“It is hard to keep track of what James Talarico claims to believe given that he flip flops,” Kraft said. “If you want to know how he will vote in the Senate, look at his record in the Legislature where he voted for taxpayer-funded sex changes for kids of any age and to allow men in women’s sports.”

In 2023, Talarico voted against a Texas House bill that later became law and barred gender surgery, puberty blockers and hormone treatments for minors.

Two years earlier, he drew criticism from conservative constituents after saying on the Texas House floor that, under his interpretation of the Bible, “God is non-binary” and is “both masculine and feminine and everything in between.”

Talarico also voted repeatedly against legislation requiring athletes to compete according to their biological sex.

During his Fox News appearance, he attempted to clarify both the “God is non-binary” remark and his earlier statement that “modern science” recognizes six biological sexes.

“I was being provocative with that statement. I get that,” Talarico said. He explained that he meant human categories could not be used to define God, calling that position “not controversial theologically.”

Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis insisted any suggestion the Texas pol changed his position is “inaccurate.”

“As James has said, he opposes gender reassignment surgery for minors. At the same time, he’ll always stand against discrimination, especially when the most powerful politicians in the country bully students to score political points,” said Ennis.

“While Ken Paxton and his billionaire backers spread lies, James will continue bringing Texans together to solve problems, not grandstand them.”

The Greenwich Village fundraiser came a day after Talarico attended another NYC fundraiser, which was thrown by a host committee packed with donors and allies of far-left Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

That gala, which also raised money for Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown’s comeback bid to reclaim his former US Senate seat, was headlined and introduced by actor Robert De Niro.

Its host committee included controversial jeweler Alexis Bittar, a Mamdani fundraiser and transition bundler who also co-hosted a fundraiser last month for radical anti-Israel and Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed — who once referred to America as a “s–thole.”

The Paxton-Talarico race — which is considered a dead heat heading into the Nov. 3 midterm elections — is widely viewed as critical to determining which party secures the Senate majority.