DeWanna Bonner often gets 'lost in the shuffle,' but she basked in her deserved moment as WNBA's third all-time scorer

Yahoo

6 days ago

INDIANAPOLIS — DeWanna Bonner motioned for her daughters to join her, a half moon of cameras and microphones awaiting them in a hallway of photos brightly lit with each Indiana Fever player's close-up. The girls hesitated and ultimately held back, swaying in the corner with their eyes locked on the star of the afternoon.
It was their mom's moment to shine on her own as the third all-time scorer in WNBA history with 7,489 points.
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Bonner is ordinarily the one sidestepping the limelight, catching rays here and there, but never standing directly in it. When she crossed the scoring threshold in the season opener Saturday, she threw her hands in the air and soaked up the adoration from 17,274 strong at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The moment was special and emotional for a veteran who has seen all forms of fandom, but none more vast than the experience in Indianapolis these days.
'I'm trying to be as humble as I can, but being around that long, I kind of feel like I deserve that moment,' Bonner, 37, said. 'And for it to happen right then and there, in this time period in my career, it was just, I don't know, [I'm] so grateful.'
Bonner entered the league in 2009 when Tina Thompson and Lisa Leslie were trading off the all-time scoring record. The two played in the inaugural 1997 WNBA season; Thompson with the four-time champion Houston Comets and Leslie with the Los Angeles Sparks, with whom she won two titles.
While Bonner sat out the 2017 season to give birth to twins — a 'count that twice!' fact she's arguably known most for after the league's 25th anniversary ad ran incessantly on WNBA League Pass — Mercury teammate Diana Taurasi took hold of the all-time mark and never let go.
DeWanna Bonner is hugged by teammate Lexie Hull after Bonner moved into third place on the all-time scoring list Saturday. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
As she enters her 16th season, little is the same from that rookie year. Not even Taurasi is around, having retired this offseason-. Bonner is the longesttenured player in the league and tied for the oldest. She ranks fifth in all-time minutes played (15,292) and could move into third by season's end. She never starred on her own team, rather providing a supporting role to the likes of Taurasi and Brittney Griner in Phoenix, Alyssa Thomas and Jonquel Jones in Connecticut, and now Caitlin Clark in Indiana.
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'It's really incredible and not just her longevity, but her efficiency and how good she's been her entire career,' Fever head coach Stephanie White said. 'She gets lost in the shuffle, right? She's played with a lot of great players.
'The consistent piece has been DeWanna Bonner, and she's quietly just gone about her business.'
Far from quiet was her summit to third on the all-time list.
Needing seven points in the opener to pass Thompson, Bonner stalled at five in the fourth quarter of the Fever's largest season-opening win in franchise history. It wasn't for lack of trying. Clark, sent to the bench with the game long out of hand, became antsy around the time a leaner missed, and Bonner raced through for a putback that missed.
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'I told Steph, 'Let me get in there,'' Clark, who was one rebound from a triple-double at the time, said on Monday. ''It's kind of driving me nuts on the sideline not watching DB get this.''
The Fever committed a shot-clock violation attempting to get Bonner the ball in Clark's first possession back on the court. Late in the fourth, Bonner drew a foul, pumped her fists quickly and smiled. When the first free throw hit net, her arms raised in celebration and relief.
'I kind of got a little bit emotional to be at this moment in front of a sold-out crowd, in front of all this attention,' Bonner said.
The Fever fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse rose to meet her in the moment. The cheers lingered amid a longer-than-usual break between free throws and broke out louder when Bonner sank the second to stand alone.
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Clark, caught mic'd up on the broadcast pumping up her teammates to help Bonner to the record, said she was happy it came at the free-throw line so the veteran felt the honor from her newest fans.
'Being on the floor getting to be part of that, [it's] such a historic moment of somebody that has given so much to this game and the league,' Clark said. 'You can just feel the energy from the crowd. They're also just itching for it.'
Clark carries an uncanny ability to keep the crowd on a string, whether it be basketball action — late lead-changing logo 3s, for instance — or those frantic arm motions for ear-splitting noise. She exited shortly after Bonner to a standing ovation, a season-opening triple-double in hand. It was the third of her career, pulling into a tie for No. 3 all time.
For all the greats Bonner has played and won with — not to mention those she has faced in competition — none has brought with them the excitement and attention of Clark.
The hype hasn't waned in Indiana, where the state's official number might as well be No. 22. Clark merch — and two fans dressed as Freddy Fever — dotted the Indianapolis sidewalks and eateries first thing Saturday morning, a singular Sky sweatshirt among them.
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At a local hotel, a young boy wore a Clark T-shirt, jersey, oversized Fever logo necklace, team hat and coordinated backpack while his mom held a bag of more merch, including a Fever basketball. The season opener was a Christmas present for which he'd waited five months in anticipation. He can name the entire roster.
In the southeast quad, a line queued outside the team store ahead of its 10 a.m. opening. Fans already decked out in gear loaded up armloads more throughout the morning, buying for family members and friends. Additional Fever jersey numbers, including Bonner's No. 25, are increasingly joining the fan fray.
'The support here has been just phenomenal,' Bonner said during Fever media day in late April. 'I really can't go anywhere. I've been here like a week and a half and everywhere I go it's just, 'We're excited for the season. Thank you for being here.' It's been really, really refreshing.'
Even a quick run into a supermarket to pick up fruit for her daughters resulted in a fan appreciation moment. She said at the start of camp, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to play in front of so many fans so passionate about basketball and their Fever.
DeWanna Bonner played alongside Diana Taurasi with the Phoenix Mercury for 10 seasons. ()
(Christian Petersen via Getty Images)
Each bench player ran out to a full lights-low introduction, while the starters entered to walk-up songs in front of three levels of fans in an NBA-sized arena. Bonner debuted in Phoenix on June 6, 2009, to 13,582 fans at US Airways Center. The 'X-Factor,' as the Mercury fan base is known, was loud but didn't fill the space. In Connecticut, the casino-based arena is smaller (8,910 is a sellout) with less fanfare.
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'To play in front of that crowd, when I walked out, I'm just like, 'Oh my god,'' Bonner said. 'I think I was a little shell-shocked.'
Bonner followed White to Indiana as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. Bonner is the strongest voice in the Fever locker room, Clark said. The season opener was a reminder the veteran is there for more than presence, leadership and defensive length.
The guard/forward scored 4,820 of her points in 10 seasons in Phoenix, where she won three consecutive Sixth Player of the Year awards in her first three seasons. In her fourth season, she stepped into a starting role she has yet to relinquish in her career. She was named on MVP ballots four times and won two WNBA championships, as a rookie in 2009 and in 2014.
On the heels of the 2020 collective bargaining agreement that allowed for more robust free agency periods, the Sun sent three first-round picks to Phoenix to acquire Bonner. Then a 10-year veteran, Bonner was viewed as the missing piece to pair with Thomas and Jones for the franchise's first championship.
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Bonner scored 2,662 points over five seasons in Connecticut, but the team never broke through to win it all. At the 2023 All-Star Game, Thomas proposed and they announced their engagement. The teammates considered playing in the same market, but Thomas brokered a sign-and-trade to Phoenix, Bonner's old stomping grounds. Bonner signed in Indiana, with her sights firmly set on a third championship.
Basking in the scoring accomplishment before turning the page to the rest of the Fever season, Bonner joked the people behind the cameras and microphones were showing her age. She doesn't remember a lot about her first WNBA game other than that it was the beginning of a WNBA championship season.
She does remember learning from Taurasi, whom she credits for her ascension up the rankings.
'I always say I played with the greatest of all time in Diana,' Bonner said. 'And if I've learned anything, I had the blueprint for how to stay in this league. She did it for 20 years and she was great at it.'
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Taurasi, a three-time WNBA champion, retired as the league's all-time-leading scorer with 10,646 career points. At a respectable 500 points per season, it would take more than six years for Bonner to top that. Taurasi's record could be out of reach for another decade.
Pulling into second will also be a challenge. Tina Charles, who came into the league a year after Bonner, is still adding to her 7,739 points as a center with the Sun.
Nneka Ogwumike (6,537 points), Griner (5,590), Jewell Loyd (5,541) and Breanna Stewart (5,444) are the only players actively playing who rank in the top 25. (Angel McCoughtry is also on the list, but is not rostered this season.) A'ja Wilson is 30th (4,835).
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Clark, whose 769 points rank fifth in a single season, is on an early pace to compete for scoring records. If she were to keep that pace, it would take 14 years.
'That's really hard to do,' Bonner said. 'That's really hard to be in that position and be in the league this long.'
With expanded season schedules — the league will play a high of 44 games this season — and a faster game, younger players have an easier path to the top. Bonner's spot in third might not last long with the talent coming up.
But she'll always have the moment in Indianapolis that hundreds of players deserved, but few last long enough to achieve.