No One Knows the WNBA Playoffs Like DeWanna Bonner

Barack Obama made history, sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Kanye West took to the VMA stage to interrupt Taylor Swift. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger became a hero after landing a plane on the Hudson River. Susan Boyle sang her way into our hearts. And the Mercury claimed their second title, winning the WNBA championship. In 2009, rookie sensation DeWanna Bonner asserted herself in a cultural zeitgeist that now looks quite quaint in hindsight. Earning Sixth Woman of the Year, she helped Phoenix hang a banner in the rafters in her first season as a pro. Fast forward 17 years, and Bonner has climbed her way back to the Finals, this time as a seasoned veteran with the Dream.

Atlanta star forward Angel Reese was just seven years old when Bonner hoisted her first WNBA trophy with the Mercury. Since joining the Dream in August (after agreeing to a contract buyout with Phoenix), Bonner has become a potent veteran presence for Reese & Co., leading the team to a 10–0 record. Starting in two of Atlanta’s five postseason games (and averaging 26.4 minutes), Bonner helped the Dream sweep the Mystics and Liberty, and punch their ticket to the Finals for the first time since 2013.

“One thing about [Bonner], she keeps it real, and she keeps us humble,” Reese said after defeating New York in the semifinals. “You need that in the locker room, especially for myself. This is my first time ever going to the Finals, and we were all happy, and then she was like, ‘Y’all like, I’ve been to the Finals and got swept before. You can’t get too high.’”

This year will mark Bonner’s fifth trip to the Finals, putting her in rarefied air. Longevity isn’t always the flashiest or most celebrated aspect of sports, but it’s quietly one of the most impressive traits an athlete can possess. The average WNBA career lasts around five years, putting Bonner’s 17-year run in stark relief. The six-time All-Star has competed for four teams, won two championships and is the first player in WNBA history to make 100 playoff appearances. It hasn’t all been glory for Bonner, though. In her five years with the Sun, the team lost four semifinals and fell in the 2022 Finals. Then came her ill-fated move to the Fever ahead of the 2025 season, which ended with Indiana waiving Bonner in June due to fit issues and her signing with the Mercury to make another Finals appearance. But in 2026, Bonner and Phoenix had a less-than-stellar season and quickly fell to the bottom of the standings. So Bonner being an x-factor in this year’s Finals was not a storyline many predicted, making this turn of events all the more thrilling.

Bonner hasn’t just hung around; she has incredible staying power, closely resembling the spark plug she was in 2009. Averaging 13.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in the playoffs, the 39-year-old has been an experienced anchor for a Dream side with an average age of 25.5. Her role as a steadying force has been years in the making, the culmination of what she learned early in her career. “I think they just look at me, and they look at my eyes," Bonner told NBC Sports. “I can’t show any pressure or any signs of being rattled because I’ve been here before.”

Angel Reese high-fives teammate DeWanna Bonner — Angel Reese (center) said Bonner (right) has kept the Dream humble on their playoff run. | Mike Lawrence/NBAE/Getty Images

Le’Coe Willingham, a self-proclaimed Georgia girl, and Bonner have a lot in common. They both played basketball at Auburn and won that fateful 2009 WNBA championship in Phoenix together, alongside budding superstar Diana Taurasi. Willingham went on to win another title with the Storm in 2010 and ended her playing career in 2013 after helping lead the Dream to the Finals.

“To win our first championship together, that’s something; as far as pride, it was really prideful for the both of us,” Willingham says, “but she was just a sponge, you know. She was just full of energy and just eager to learn and eager to experience everything; she was a sponge. And more than that, she was already a winner.”

Bonner reflected on her early days in Phoenix in a 2020 story for The Players’ Tribune, opening up about what the more experienced Mercury players meant for her growth. “Fortunately for me, Diana [Taurasi] and the other incredible vets on that Phoenix team … weren’t gonna let me fail,” Bonner wrote. “They supported me, but also pushed me. So I learned so much, so fast.”

Willingham echoed Bonner’s sentiment, remembering how Taurasi inspired everyone around her to elevate their game. “She was the type of person and player that knew how to bring people to her level, and you wanted to play hard, and you wanted to do the little things, and it was just fun,” Willingham says, recalling the 2009 championship run.

Taurasi and the other vets’ wisdom now lives on through Bonner. It’s her turn to take up the mantle of elder stateswoman for the Dream, and as such, that sometimes means tough love. After a slow start to Game 1 of the semifinals, Bonner delivered a fiery halftime speech to her new team, with guard Jordin Canada confirming after the contest that “DB got into” the squad at the break.

Reese has welcomed the intensity that sometimes comes with Bonner’s guidance. “You need those tough conversations in the locker room because we aren’t satisfied,” Reese said. “We want more. I am really grateful for her for that because she just pushes us to the next, next, next level.”

Bonner’s resurgence to the promised land of the Finals isn’t just a miraculous individual story; it speaks to the WNBA’s circle of life. Willingham, who watches Bonner with enormous pride, says, “I think a lot of us older players feel like [the league] is our baby.” And their baby is all grown up, barely resembling the toddler of 2009.

“There’s a lot that’s changed since I came into this league a decade ago,” Bonner wrote in 2020, “one thing that hasn’t changed is our vets being there to support the young guns.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same. In a world and league that look radically different than they did 17 years ago, Bonner is the constant, and so are the principles that guided her, passed down by the veterans of yore.

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