The Indiana Fever will be without veteran forward DeWanna Bonner for a fifth consecutive game on Tuesday when they take on the Seattle Storm. Bonner, who is out for personal reasons, has not played since June 10 and it’s unclear when she’ll return to action.
According to Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports, it’s possible we’ve seen the last of Bonner in a Fever uniform. Per Costabile, Bonner has “no interest” in returning to the Fever. Her preferred landing spots, either via trade or a buyout, are the Phoenix Mercury — where her fiancée, Alyssa Thomas, plays — or the Atlanta Dream.
“I haven’t had a lot of conversations with her recently, really focused on the team we have right here,” Fever coach Stephanie White said prior to taking on the Storm.
The Fever will hope to snap a two-game losing streak Tuesday against the red-hot Storm, winners of six of their last seven. As they prepare to take the floor without Bonner yet again, here’s everything we know about the situation.
Key offseason signing not panning out
The Fever had two main goals during the offseason: add experienced players and improve their defense. By signing Bonner — the league’s all-time leader in playoff appearances with 87 and a rangy, versatile defender — they hoped to achieve both.
Thus far, however, the move has not panned out the way they hoped. Bonner was removed from the starting lineup after three games and has scored in double figures twice in nine appearances. She’s averaging 7.1 points and 3.8 rebounds on a career-worst 34.5% from the field.
Notably, Bonner has by far the worst on-off differential on the team. The Fever have a minus-10.2 net rating in her 192 minutes on the court and a plus-15.1 net rating in the 328 minutes she has not been out there. To be fair, she has spent a lot of time on the floor without Caitlin Clark, which is going to skew those numbers. Even so, she has largely been ineffective, particularly on the offensive end.
The Fever gave Bonner a near-max contract with the expectation that she would play a major role in taking the team to the next level as a legitimate playoff threat. Between her poor play and extended absence, they have gotten almost nothing from her on the court.
Missing their ‘strongest voice’
Even though Bonner has not played well, she’s still been an important figure in the Fever’s locker room. Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston were not even 10 years old when Bonner made her professional debut in 2009. She’s won two championships, appeared in more postseason games than anyone in WNBA history and played with numerous Hall of Famers across multiple franchises. Along the way, Bonner has seen everything there is to see in this league.
That kind of experience is invaluable to a team with a young core, and she made an immediate impact off the court.
“She’s experienced a lot of different things, whether it’s been teammates — playing with some of the best in the world — franchises, coaches,” White said during training camp. “Having her knowledge and having her mama bear personality, it’s so important because she understands how to hold you accountable, but she understands how to love on you, too.”
“The strongest voice in our locker room is hers,” Clark said after Bonner moved into third place on the league’s all-time scoring list in their season opener. “And it’s fun to have been around her now for about a month, just to get to learn from her and soak it all in.”
The Fever are 2-2 in Bonner’s absence, and both defeats have been the result of blown double-digit leads on the road. Her leadership certainly could have come in handy in those situations.
Speculation running rampant
Neither Bonner nor the Fever have not divulged any details about her absence, nor should they. But in the absence of any concrete information, speculation has filled the void. Do a quick scan of social media and you’ll see no shortage of rumors:
- “Could Bonner be retiring?” Always possible considering she’s about to turn 38 in August, but there’s no reason to believe that’s the case right now.
- “She removed the Fever from her Instagram bio?” The Fever are not currently mentioned there, but it’s unclear if they ever were in the first place. One of her pinned posts does feature her in a Fever uniform.
- “Was her individual player banner removed from Gainbridge Fieldhouse?” No. It was up during the Fever’s last home game against the Sun on June 17.
The rumor mill only sped up on Tuesday with Costabile’s report that Bonner wants out of Indianapolis, and that the fit was “off” from the beginning. Bonner’s removal from the starting lineup is apparently a key factor in the devolving relationship between the two sides.
What happens next?
The answer depends on how long the Bonner saga plays out.
The Fever won’t want to lose Bonner for nothing, but a trade is going to be difficult to pull off, especially if she is dictating where she wants to play. Bonner makes $200,000, which is a big salary for either the Mercury or Dream, her two preferred destinations, to acquire given their salary cap situations. There’s also no guarantee either team is interested in giving up anything for a player who appears to be on her last legs.
If no trade materializes, the Fever could end up waiving Bonner because her contract is unprotected. All they would be out is her pro-rated salary, and they would gain a roster spot and the cap space to potentially sign two players (they entered the season with only 11 players, one below the limit of 12).
Should the Bonner situation drag on, however, things would get interesting. The Fever are currently back to full strength aside from Bonner, but that will change shortly when Damiris Dantas leaves to join the Brazilian national team for FIBA AmeriCup action later this month. That tournament will run from June 28 to July 6 in Chile, and Dantas will miss at least five games, including the Commissioner’s Cup championship.
If Bonner is still in limbo by the time Dantas leaves, the Fever will be extremely shorthanded in the frontcourt and down to nine available players. As most fans have learned from the Fever’s injury crisis earlier in the season, when a team drops below 10 healthy and available players, they are granted an emergency hardship exception. It’s unclear if that would apply if Bonner’s absence essentially becomes a holdout.
Earlier in the season, the Fever used an emergency hardship exception to sign former lottery pick Aari McDonald, who had a nice run with the team. Per the rules of the exception, the player signed with it must be released as soon as the team once again has 10 available non-replacement players, and as such McDonald is no longer with the Fever.
Should Bonner remain out while Dantas is overseas, the Fever could potentially sign another player temporarily via a emergency hardship exception. McDonald remains without a team, and would be an option, but if Bonner and Dantas are both out, the Fever would likely target a frontcourt option.
