DeWanna Bonner Reveals Tamika Catchings' Role in Fever WNBA Free Agency Decision
February 10 marked the introductory press conference for new Indiana Fever player DeWanna Bonner. It was an exciting and emotional day for the former Sun star, which started when she toured Indiana's Gainbridge Fieldhouse arena.
At one point in the video that the Fever's X account posted of Bonner doing this tour, she walked into a room that appeared to be the Fever's film room and saw a mural of WNBA legend Tamika Catchings (who was 2012 WNBA Finals MVP when Indiana secured their franchise's first championship, the 2011 WNBA MVP, and has her No. 24 retired with the Fever) on the wall.
"I love her," Bonner said of Catchings. "That's my girl. I love [Catchings]. Shout out to [Catchings]."
“This is surreal [...] I feel like I’m in a little bit of a dream.”
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) February 10, 2025
welcome home, DeWanna Bonner 🙌 pic.twitter.com/KP5gOHxEyV
Soon after Bonner signed with the Fever, Catchings made an X post that wrote, "👀👀👀 Love this for @DEEBONNER24 ❤️ and the @IndianaFever 🥰🙌🏽 #FreeAgency,"
👀👀👀 Love this for @DEEBONNER24❤️ and the @IndianaFever 🥰🙌🏽 #FreeAgency https://t.co/0jL3Bfcfpw
— Tamika Catchings (@Catchin24) February 2, 2025
And during her February 10 press conference, Bonner spoke about the relationship she has with Catchings.
"I mean, Catchings is great. She's an all-time great," Bonner said, per a February 10 X post. "She actually helped me a lot in this process. And not just saying like 'Oh, come to Indiana, come to Indiana.' Just like 'What do you want? What do you need?'"
Bonner added, "She's just someone that you can go to who's level-headed and understands this process a lot. And I'm just like 'Catch, I don't know what I want. I just want to win.' That's all I kept saying. I want to win... And just being able to go to her and reference her. And I'm like 'Okay, if I sign on this dotted line, you got to make sure help me become a better leader.' So that was the one thing that we've been talking about.
"Ever since I signed, she’s been checking on me every day, and just telling me things to do because she did bring a championship here," Bonner added of Catchings. "I'm hoping that I can lead and do the same thing. She's just been so great and I’m just very appreciative of her throughout this whole process.”
“Ever since I signed, she’s been checking on me every day [...] I’m just very appreciative of her.”
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) February 10, 2025
DeWanna Bonner talks about the impact and relationship she has with Fever legend Tamika Catchings ❤️ pic.twitter.com/aIjHikQjuW
Sounds like Bonner will continue to use Catchings for support during this upcoming 2025 campaign.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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