ATLANTA — Right after the WNBA trade deadline, Dream general manager Dan Padover spoke with reporters bout the team’s decision to hold tight.
The IX Sports asked Padover about the other deadline on August 24th, which means that if a player is waived after that date, a team can claim that player, but they won’t be eligible for the playoff roster.
Padover made it clear that his phone was on if someone became available then.
“Obviously, we’re evaluating our current team, and evaluating what’s out there in the league,” Padover told The IX Sports. “But you know, the bulk of our crew is here. But any pieces that we can add, we will.”
True to his word, they did: the Dream landed 17-year veteran DeWanna Bonner after she and the Phoenix Mercury agreed to terms on her release so that she could sign with a team for the playoff stretch with her sights on another WNBA Championship.
While New York and Las Vegas were reportedly also in on landing Bonner, it was the Dream that landed her for a prorated $116,000 salary for the team’s final five games.
“First of all, it’s how they play. They play really hard night in and night out,” Bonner said about joining the Dream. “They play fast paced and shoot threes – I love to shoot threes. I’m like an hour and 30 minutes from home from my hometown, two hours from Auburn where I went to college, and probably a couple hours from my kids.
“It’s just like great basketball, a great location for me at the end of my career. My mom can drive down to see me play, so yeah, just everything kind of you know all aligned, and it’s just crazy. It’s surreal that I’m here right now. “
The stars aligned, and some within the organization would add a qualifier to that phrase: finally. The Dream and Bonner’s reps have had multiple conversations over the last few years about bringing her to the team, but when they had another chance, this was a moment that they didn’t want to miss.
“We had gotten a heads up from our agent that she was likely to become available, and right from there, I was on the phone with Mike, her agent, talking numbers, trying to figure out if it would be a fit,” Padover said. “DeWanna and Karl [Smesko] had a really good conversation, as did she and I. The second something happens in this league, you’ve got to move as fast as possible. So we did that, and we’re fortunate that we’ve met with DeWanna over three different free agency periods, so she was familiar with us.
“She’s got some local roots, knows a lot of our players really well, and played with Brionna forever in Connecticut. She sees what we’re all about, and what we’re trying to get to. She wanted to jump in, and we’re more than happy to have her.”
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Bonner, who arrived in Atlanta two hours before the Dream’s loss against the Portland Fire Friday night, was asked about that conversation with Smesko before the Dream’s Sunday game against the Lynx.
“You know, Karl is so chilled and laid back. I don’t even know if he had a pitch. It was more so like the team and the players that kind of drew me in how close they are,” Bonner said. “They really are a close team in the locker room, and they take care of each other. So I think that’s what kind of you know you don’t want to come into a locker room that’s spread apart, and you have to figure out who’s what. Karl is just so laid back and quiet. He’s just like, ‘Hey, I like to shoot threes. So, if you want to you want to shoot threes, come here.’”
As The IX Sports first reported, Bonner wasn’t going to be activated for Friday’s game, but the plan was for Bonner to make her debut on Sunday for a showdown against the Lynx.
While she had no practice time ahead of her debut, she was able to get in some work during a shootaround on Saturday with Smesko and the other coaches – including some pregame work Sunday with assistant coach Brandi Poole.
A challenge with Smesko’s system is his terminology. As Jones, a long-time teammate of Bonner’s in Connecticut, told The IX Sports, it’s the most complicated terminology that she ever heard when she signed in Atlanta last year.
With Bonner, the Dream put in a few plays for her, but she got her first experience of the intense language that Smesko uses for his schemes.
“Oh my God. My head is still spinning, but yes, it’s totally different from what I’ve learned,” Bonner told The IX Sports. “I’ve been in the league for 17 years now, and it’s just everything is totally different. Maybe that’s why they are so hard to guard.”
Bonner had used the word “they”, but it’s really “we” now.
And there was no time where it was more evident than against the Fire on Friday night when the Dream were struggling. Bonner, who received a standing ovation when she was introduced at the beginning of the game in street clothes on the bench, wasted no time flexing her knowledge by coaching up her teammates during a timeout.
“Listen, I’m on this team now, so that’s my record. So I was just like, ‘yeah, let’s get this win. Let’s lock in,’” Bonner said. “You watch them play, and you’re like, ‘OK, that’s not normal how they were playing. It was very uncharacteristic.’” Whatever tidbits I can offer to help. I didn’t know any plays, but I know basketball, so I’m gonna speak up.”
Having that basketball knowledge was a big reason why the Dream were excited to bring her in and why her teammates are thrilled to have the veteran on their side.
“I mean, her name’s not in the record books for nothing. We know what she can do,” Rhyne Howard said after the Fire game. “We know what she’s capable of, and we’re excited to have her here. It’s been a long ride trying to make her a Dream, but now that it’s finally happened, I think we can continue to make this push that we’re making, and add a new threat that people weren’t expecting.”
Bonner is a two-time WNBA champion, so she brings that experience to the team, as well. The only other players with championship-experience on the Dream are both Jordin Canada and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.
“She’s a champion, so she knows what it takes to become a champion. She knows that it’s going to take everything, everyone to step up and do what we can to bring it home to Atlanta,” Canada said about adding Bonner. “She’s a legend in her own right, so she’s definitely going to help us on the defensive end and offensive end, and her voice, too, is going to matter, as well. That leadership is something that we’re going to need going into the playoffs.”
The leadership that Bonner has is something that has been passed on to players all over the league. One of those players who Bonner has taken under her wings the most is her now teammate, Angel Reese.
“Being able to be in this league for 17 is insane to me. She’s seen the league at the lows and she’s seen the league now in the highs,” Reese said of Bonner. “She’s always been in my corner, always inspired me, and has always continued to push me and be in my ear and be a positive for me. Same with Alyssa Thomas.”
Thomas, who is Bonner’s long-time partner, or, as Reese recently called her, the “hottest WAG,” is expected to be in attendance during the Dream’s playoff run.
And that playoff run is what it’s all about for her and her new team. The Dream want to win. They know that this is the core – and the team – that has the best chance of doing so. Adding in a veteran, who is going to have a two-week FIBA break to get acclimated, could be just the extra push that they needed.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Bonner told The IX Sports, “But I’m still studying and learning, and I have only one day of practice. So, just gonna go out there and play hard. But it’s definitely-I’m glad this FIBA break is coming up. I’ll tell you that.”
As for how she’ll be used, Smesko says that people know who Bonner is and what she brings. There’s 21 years of high-level film on her.
She’s a slasher. She’s a space filler. She’s a shooter.
In Atlanta, she’ll continue to be a leader, too.
“She’s a really smart player. She knows how to read defense exceptionally well, and she’s just a threat,” Smesko said. “She’ll be three, four feet off the three-point line, and she has people that have to go out there and guard her. That’s just going to create a lot more space for everybody else, and an opportunity for us to have more weapons out there at any particular time. We’re excited about all the things that she can bring to the Dream.”
