Phoenix Mercury re-sign veteran forward DeWanna Bonner
DeWanna Bonner has re-signed with the three-time champion Phoenix Mercury.
From the Mercury:
“There are not a lot of players in the league who can defend the other team’s best player on one end and get you 20 points on the other end, but DeWanna Bonner is one of those players,” said Mercury general manager Jim Pitman. “There are not a lot of players who can be in the running for Defensive Player of the Year one year and league MVP the next, but DeWanna is one of them. Most of all, though, she is a selfless player who will fill whatever role the team needs in order to help her team win, and that is the reason we are most excited to announce that she has re-signed.”
The 6-4 forward, who has spent her entire seven-year WNBA career with the Mercury, is one of the league’s most versatile two-way players. After serving as the defensive stopper on a 2014 Mercury squad that led the league in defensive efficiency, Bonner earned her first career All-Star berth in 2015 by posting one of the best all-around statistical seasons in the WNBA, elevating her game in Diana Taurasi’s absence. Bonner averaged 15.8 points (5th-WNBA, second-highest average of her career), 5.7 rebounds and a career-high 3.3 assists (12th-WNBA). Bonner and Finals MVP Maya Moore were the only players in the WNBA in 2015 to average at least 15, 5 and 3, and Bonner teamed with Brittney Griner (15.1 points, 8th-WNBA) to make the Mercury one of only two WNBA teams in 2015 with a pair of teammates in the top-10 in scoring.
The third-leading scorer in franchise history behind only teammates Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor, Bonner is a three-time WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year honoree (2009, 2010, 2011), the only player in league history to win the award multiple times. She is a two-time WNBA Champion (2009, 2014), who owns career averages of 13.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals in 233 games.
Originally the fifth overall pick of the 2009 WNBA Draft by the Mercury, Bonner was a four-year standout at Auburn, becoming the first Tiger ever to lead the SEC in scoring when she averaged 21.1 points as a senior.
