Auburn basketball alumna named AP's WNBA Comeback Player of the Year

On her 31st birthday, former Auburn women’s basketball player DeWanna Bonner was named the WNBA’s Comeback Player of the Year by AP. Bonner currently plays for the Phoenix Mercury.

Bonner missed the 2017 season due to pregnancy. On July 30, 2017, she welcomed twin daughters with her wife, and former Mercury teammate, Candice Dupree.

In her return during the 2018 season, Bonner averaged 17.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. She was also named a WNBA All-Star for the second time in her career.

Through her 2005-2006 season at Auburn, Bonner led the Tigers with an average of 13.5 points per game, the first time a freshman player led the team in scoring since the 1980-81 season. She was a member of the SEC All-Freshman Team as well.

During her last year as a Tiger, Bonner was named the 2009 SEC Player of the Year and was a National Player of the Year finalist. She led the SEC in scoring that season, the first Auburn player to achieve this, and set the Auburn single-season scoring record by scoring 716 points, averaging 21.1 per game.

Bonner's main highlight from the 2009 season came when she broke the Auburn scoring record at the SEC Tournament against Ole Miss. She scored a total of 2,162 points and had 1,047 rebounds during her time at Auburn and is one of three players to have over 2,000 points and over 1,000 rebounds as a Tiger.

The Phoenix Mercury drafted her fifth overall in the 2009 WNBA Draft. Bonner has won two WNBA Championships with the team, once in her rookie season in 2009 and another in 2014.

During her first eight years with the team, she averaged 13.7 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game in 267 appearances, 165 of which she started. She made her first All-Star team in 2015. She led the Mercury in scoring in 2012 and 2015 with 20.6 and 15.8 points per game, respectively. 

Bonner won WNBA Sixth Women of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2011 as the only player to receive the award multiple times in league history.

Before her return to the WNBA, Bonner played overseas in the Czech Republic for USK Praha. On Feb. 13, 2018, the Mercury re-signed her for an undisclosed length of time.