Indiana Fever Waive DeWanna Bonner, Re-Sign Aari McDonald » Winsidr

After Front Office Sports (FOS) reported that DeWanna Bonner had “no interest in returning to the Indiana Fever,” on Tuesday, the Fever officially granted Bonner her unconditional release on Wednesday. Per Chloe Peterson of the Indy Star, the Fever have officially waived Bonner. Additionally, Indiana has also re-signed Aari McDonald to a standard rest-of-season contract at the veteran minimum.

In a statement following the release, Bonner said, “I want to sincerely thank the Indiana Fever for the opportunity to be part of the Fever franchise. Despite our shared goals and excitement heading into the season, I felt the fit did not work out and I appreciate the organization’s willingness to grant my request to move on, particularly at this point in my career. I wish the Fever great success as they continue to build around this dynamic group of young players.”

Bonner signed an unprotected 1-year, $200 million deal with the Fever this offseason. She has not been with the team since June 12th, and the Fever cited her leave as personal reasons.

As Annie Costabile reported for FOS, Bonner’s preferred destinations are with the Phoenix Mercury or Atlanta Dream. By releasing Bonner, the Fever only owe her a pro-rated amount of her contract. Teams have 48 hours to claim Bonner from the waiver wire, and if she goes unclaimed within that period she is free to sign with any team as an unrestricted free agent.

Further reporting from Costabile tells us “teams have been advised not to pick Bonner up off of waivers because her preference would be to sign with the Mercury.” Costabile also reports that Phoenix would need to cut a player to stay within the WNBA’s 12-player roster maximum.

We should note that the current veteran’s minimum contract is worth $78,831. Of the two reported preferred destinations, Phoenix has the cap room ($88,103) to sign DeWanna Bonner, whereas Atlanta ($23,939) would need to make an additional roster move in order to sign her.