{"id":824477,"date":"2026-08-24T18:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/824477\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:30:09","slug":"why-the-mercury-are-buying-out-dewanna-bonners-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/824477\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Mercury are buying out DeWanna Bonner’s contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Mercury<\/a> will not make the WNBA playoffs in 2026. That was fairly clear when last season’s finalists began this year with a 2-8 record, but it was mathematically confirmed in a loss to the Atlanta Dream<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Mercury announced it had reached an agreement with veteran forward DeWanna Bonner over a contract buyout. The 38-year-old came up just short in last season’s WNBA Finals, and Phoenix now is affording her a chance to latch on with a contender and pursue a third career championship before a possible retirement this winter.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Alyssa Thomas enters WNBA club of one on night Mercury season ends<\/a><\/p>\n

“DeWanna has been an important part of our team and brought tremendous leadership, experience and competitiveness to the Mercury,\u201d general manager Nick U\u2019Ren said in a statement. \u201cBecause of the relationship we have with DeWanna, we worked out a buyout agreement that gives her the opportunity to chase a title in what could be her final postseason. DeWanna will always be part of the Mercury family, and we wish her all the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEWS: The Mercury have reached a buyout with DeWanna Bonner, giving the 17-year veteran an opportunity to sign with a contender ahead of the 2026 Playoffs, which could be her last<\/p>\n

\u2014 Shane Young (@YoungNBA) August 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n

Bonner was drafted fifth overall by the Mercury in 2009. She began her career by winning Sixth Player of the Year in three consecutive seasons, and she won two championships within her first six years in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

Bonner was traded to the Connecticut Sun<\/a> in 2020 and helped that franchise reach the Finals in 2022. After an ill-fated free agency decision to join the Indiana Fever<\/a>, Bonner returned to Phoenix last year and has remained a strong contributor in her 17th WNBA season, across which she has averaged 10.6 points and 6.1 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to return to Phoenix and play in front of the best fans in the WNBA these past two seasons has been an incredible experience,\u201d Bonner said via statement. \u201cAt this stage of my career, I don\u2019t know what the future holds, but I\u2019m grateful to the Mercury for giving me the opportunity to play in what could be one of my final postseason opportunities.”<\/p>\n

Bonner is the WNBA’s active scoring leader with 8,200 career points. A six-time All-Star and two-time All-WNBA selection, she should garner significant free agent interest from contenders.<\/p>\n

More WNBA news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phoenix Mercury will not make the WNBA playoffs in 2026. That was fairly clear when last season’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-824477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}