The destination she had in mind was Phoenix, where owner Matt Ishbia and head coach Nate Tibbets were pouring all their resources into rebuilding a championship culture to a franchise with three championships but hadn’t been to the Finals since 2021 and hadn’t won a title since 2014.
Thomas’s goal was the same as it had ever been. She saw the Phoenix Mercury as her best chance to return to title contention as soon as possible.
“Coming here, I didn’t want any drop off,” Thomas said. “Playoffs is a standard for myself and coming here, their history for winning championships and I just wanted to keep that going.”
For DeWanna Bonner, the plan took some unexpected turns, but got her to the same place.
She spent five seasons in Connecticut on the same mission as Thomas, but decided to start a new chapter.
She set her eyes on Indiana, where the Fever had one of the league’s hottest commodities in Caitlin Clark and a core around her that they believed was talented enough to make a championship push even if it was a young group. But about a month into the season, Bonner started rethinking her decision. Her role fluctuated, from being a starter at the beginning of the season to coming off the bench after three games. When a quad injury sidelined Clark, that added another wrinkle to the Fever’s dynamic. Unhappy with her situation, Bonner sat out nearly a month before being waived.
After some twists and turns, Bonner ended up in Phoenix with Thomas (who is also her fiancée).
Moving on didn’t come without turmoil. While Bonner was silent while she was away from the Fever, her critics, particularly on social media, were not.
But when she returned to the floor, she provided Phoenix with an element they needed on the floor, averaging 10.9 points and 4.3 rebounds in 24 games, and off, as a veteran with 17 years of experience, 15 playoff appearances, and 2 championships.
“It just felt like the perfect fit,” she said. “We didn’t have a drop off. They were already playing well and I just molded my way in there.”
Thomas, who had finished third in this year’s MVP voting, was already the engine that fueled, averaging nearly a triple-double during the regular season. The play she made to rip Napheesa Collier and score the game-clinching layup in Game 3 of Phoenix’s semifinals series against Minnesota was controversial enough for Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve to earn a suspension protesting it, but it was also the kind of play that decides series in the postseason.
At the same time, when the Mercury were trying to protect a 4-point lead with 2:02 left in the fourth quarter, it was Bonner who drilled a 35-foot 3-pointer that kept the Lynx at bay.
“You need veterans in this profession,” Tibbets said. “They’ve been through it. Moments aren’t too big. The regular season is one thing, but the playoffs, they step up and they’ve done that.”
Making a move midseason and landing in the Finals is rare in the WNBA. The last time a player took a path similar to Bonner’s was 2015 when Sylvia Fowles wanted out of Chicago after seven years. She requested a trade and was willing to sit out the first half of the season. The Sky traded her to Minnesota and she won the first of two titles and two MVPs there.
There was more midseason player movement this season than any in WNBA history. A total of 26 players switched jerseys at some point during the year. Fourteen of them have contributed to playoff runs. None more than Bonner, who said she’s still processing her time with the Fever but relishing another opportunity to play for a title.
But there are never any guarantees.
“It’s hard to get to the Finals,” Bonner said. “I’ve been in the league and all these playoff appearances and I’ve only been to the Finals three times. Just how hard it is to get back there. So I’m just honored and blessed to be back with this group.”
In each of the past four seasons, more than half the coaching jobs in the WNBA were held by women.
But after the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm parted ways with head coaches Sandy Brondello and Noelle Quinn, the league is down to five female coaches as it expands to 15 teams next season.
Brondello, who had been in New York since 2022, led the Liberty to a title just a year ago. No coach in WNBA history had been fired within a year of winning a championship. Quinn had been in Seattle since 2021, and took the Storm to the playoffs each of the past two seasons.
But their four-plus year runs with their respective franchises were longer than most.
The average tenure for a female coach is 2.8 seasons, slightly lower than a male coach (3).
But if it feels like leashes are getting short, it’s because they are. Five of the past seven coaches who were fired were women, and all of their tenures lasted three seasons or less (Christie Sides, 2, Latricia Trammell, 2, Teresa Weatherspoon, 1, Tanisha Wright, 3, Vanessa Nygaard, 2).
Last year, Weatherspoon was fired by the Chicago Sky after just one season. It had been 14 years since any non-interim coach in the WNBA had gotten that short of a leash. Overall, more male coaches have been fired after one season (15) than female (10). But the past four coaches that got just one season were all women.