Fever's DeWanna Bonner Shares Heartfelt Stephanie White Support Amid Absence

Indiana Fever standout DeWanna Bonner shared a strong message supporting head coach Stephanie White.

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White watches the action Sunday, May 4, 2025, during a preseason game between the Indiana Fever and the Brazil national team at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. The Indiana Fever defeated the Brazilian National Team, 108-44. | Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Prior to the Indiana Fever's June 7 game against the Chicago Sky, Chloe Peterson of IndyStar made an X post that read, "BREAKING: Stephanie White will miss Indiana's game in Chicago at the United Center tonight, a team spokesperson confirmed to me.

"Austin Kelly will step in as acting head coach."

BREAKING: Stephanie White will miss Indiana's game in Chicago at the United Center tonight, a team spokesperson confirmed to me.

Austin Kelly will step in as acting head coach.

More:https://t.co/b0wWqHW3i9

— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) June 7, 2025

This came one day after Peterson initially conveyed that White might be absent for this contest, writing on X, "An additional note: head coach Steph White was not with the team today because of personal reasons.

"She will not travel with the team to Chicago this afternoon. Her status for the game tomorrow is TBD."

There's still no indication of why White missed Saturday's game aside from the aforementioned personal reasons. What's for sure is that Fever played admirably in her stead, perhaps inspired to produce a good performance for their head coach.

And Indiana standout wing DeWanna Bonner spoke to this with a quote she had in a June 8 article from Peterson.

“I really want to win for Steph, she’s going through a tough time with her family right now,” Bonner was quoted as saying. “We want to rally together and get this one for her, but it’s also Austin’s first time at the helm, so it’s double-duty right now.”

“I really want to win for Steph, she’s going through a tough time with her family right now,”

This team and how they stayed together through adversity has been amazing♥️

Sending thoughts & Prayers to Steph & her family 🙏 pic.twitter.com/BXMaUeQmkJ

— Swag (@socorooopova) June 8, 2025

There's no telling when White might return to the Fever or when she'll be back on the sidelines. Regardless, Austin Kelly filled in seamlessly as the team's active head coach against the Sky, and will certainly be prepared to to do once again if need be when the Fever play the Atlanta Dream on June 10.