Kahleah Copper calls Indiana Fever fans 'very distasteful' for booing DeWanna Bonner
DeWanna Bonner's abrupt departure from the Indiana Fever earlier this season got a little messier on Wednesday, July 30. She returned to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with the Phoenix Mercury for the first time since the team granted the six-time WNBA All-Star a release on June 25.
Fever fans booed Bonner throughout Indiana's 107-101 win, and one of her new star teammates with the Mercury took issue with the treatment during a news conference after the game.
"I think she handled it well. I just, I don't understand," Kahleah Copper said of Bonner, according to the Indianapolis Star. "She's a legend and just all the things she's done for the league, and just the disrespect, I can't get down with it. They booed her. She didn't say a word to the crowd. People talked some trash to her, but we had her back."
"But it's just very distasteful for what their fan base is doing as far as when it comes to DB because she's just the sweetest soul," Copper continued. "And the situation didn't work for her and that's just not what she wanted, or whatever, it's just we don't need all of that. It's unnecessary."
Bonner was booed when she checked into the game for the first time with about seven minutes left in the first quarter, according to the Indianapolis Star. The boos resumed when she got the ball for the first time and then reached their peak when Bonner was fouled on a 3-point attempt and went to the free throw line. Some fans yelled "quitter," the Indianapolis Star reported.
Bonner, 37, was signed to a one-year contract to provide veteran support for Caitlin Clark and the Fever, but she lost her starting job early on this season and fell out of the regular rotation. She then missed five games in June for "personal reasons" and requested a trade. She was released by Indiana on June 25 after the team was unable to trade her.
Bonner signed with the Phoenix Mercury on July 8, rejoining the team she won two WNBA championships with and played the first 10 seasons of her career. The move also reunited Bonner with her fiancée, forward Alyssa Thomas.
Thomas waved on the crowd after Bonner was fouled in the first quarter in Wednesday's return game, according to the Indianapolis Star, and then could be seen on the broadcast apparently yelling at fans in the stands.
"I didn't see that, (but) I would guess so. AT is a competitive player. Just like their players talk to their fans, our players are going to do the same," Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts told reporters after the game.
"I thought (Bonner) handled it fine," he added. "That's how sports work. You go to a former home of yours when you don't leave on your terms and typically fans aren't going to be happy. That's what they did tonight."
The 6-foot-4 Bonner is averaging 8.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists through 15 games with the Mercury and Fever. She had four points and a rebound in 20 minutes of action in Wednesday's loss to the Fever.