Mid-season contract buyouts and waivers are common in the WNBA, especially when it comes to underperforming players or routine roster management. However, with just five games remaining before the postseason, a superstar player like DeWanna Bonner mutually parting ways with a team strictly to chase a title with a rival is quite unusual and has definitely left WNBA analyst Caroline Fenton stunned.
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In their official announcement on August 24, Phoenix Mercury GM Nick U’Ren said, “Because 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.” And it was this surprising transparency that Fenton discussed on Hoops 360 – The Weekly WNBA Rundown powered by Yahoo Sports.
“Like, they’re not trying to hide it at all. They’re not trying to sugarcoat it at all and make this seem like it’s anything other than what it actually is,” Fenton said, reacting on Yahoo Sports’ The Weekly WNBA Rundown on Wednesday.
“DeWanna Bonner is probably looking in the twilight of her career and saying, ‘I want to win one more championship.’ I don’t blame her for that. And I don’t blame anyone for feeling like that’s a little bit icky. I think that both things can be true at the same time.”
DeWanna Bonner and the Phoenix Mercury actually struck a buyout deal on Monday, which allowed her to leave the team freely, after their poor 13-25 season saw them finish 12th in the WNBA standings and miss out on the WNBA Playoffs. And, as the Mercury general manager made clear, she is leaving to join a team that will give her another chance to compete for a WNBA championship, a team that has made the playoffs and has a real fighting chance. In this case, that team has turned out to be the Atlanta Dream.
As Fenton said, even though she wouldn’t criticize or blame DeWanna Bonner for wanting to chase another championship at this stage of her career, she also won’t blame anyone who finds the circumstances uncomfortable, as her co-host Cassandra Negley did.
Negley argued that even DeWanna Bonner’s own partner, Alyssa Thomas, would’ve earned the same criticism because, unlike Bonner, she hasn’t won a championship yet.
“I wonder if it looks different if someone like Alyssa Thomas, who is a seven-time All-Defense, four-time All-WNBA. She led in steals in 2020, rebounds in 2023, assists in 2025. She’s a triple-double machine. She has all these accolades. I wonder if it looks different if someone like her does this to try and win a ring knowing that maybe the chances are limited, versus someone like DB who already has rings.”
However, while critics argue that the transaction compromises the spirit of competitive fairness, it violated no active league rules. Under WNBA rules, a player and a team can mutually agree to part ways via a contract buyout at any time. The Phoenix Mercury legally exercised this right on Monday.
DeWanna Bonner has made more playoff appearances than the entire franchise of Atlanta Dream since its inception. Bonner has won TWO WNBA Championships in 15 appearances. On the other hand, the Dream have played 11 playoffs, reached the WNBA Finals THREE times and lost all three. Show more
And according to the league rulebook, after a buyout, a player must clear a mandatory 48-hour waiver period. Any team attempting to claim Bonner during this window would have had to absorb her full, original salary-cap hit, which no contender had the space to do. And because no team claimed her, she officially cleared waivers on Wednesday, August 26, legally becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Mick from Mick Talks Hoopseven went as far as to suggest the WNBA should investigate the buyout if Bonner landed up in the Las Vegas Aces because she would be the perfect replacement for NaLyssa Smith, who injured her knee ahead of the buyout announcement.
Right now, ESPN has announced that DeWanna Bonner will be joining the Atlanta Dream, who are currently fourth in the league standings and have made the playoffs. There were also reports that the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty were in the mix for her, while the Dream had reportedly been interested in signing her for multiple years.
But amid all the controversy surrounding DeWanna Bonner’s move, what do you think? Is Bonner simply making the most of an opportunity to chase another championship, or do you think this loophole that allowed her to bypass the trade deadline and join a playoff contender needs revision?