Indiana Fever remake roster with flurry of weekend moves

The Indiana Fever continued a busy weekend of roster moves on Sunday by reaching a deal with six-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner, according a person familiar with the situation, The Associated Press reported.

Bonner, a 6-foot-4 free agent, played in Connecticut the last five years, helping the Sun reach the WNBA Finals in 2022. She averaged 15 points, six rebounds and two assists last season and made the All-Star team. A move to Indiana, which hasn’t been officially announced, reunites Bonner with coach Stephanie White, whom she played for in Connecticut the last two seasons.

Bonner is just the latest move by the Fever, who on Friday picked up free agent Natasha Howard, a two-time All-Star, and added guard Sophie Cunningham and guard/forward Jaelyn Brown as part of four-team trade.

ESPN basketball analyst Rebecca Lobo said the weekend moves put the Fever “in the championship conversation.”

The Fever sent forward NaLyssa Smith and their No. 8 draft pick to the Dallas Wings as part of the trade and received Cunningham and a second-round draft pick from the Phoenix Mercury, and Brown from Dallas as part of the trade.

On Sunday, Indiana announced it had waived guard Grace Berger, a former Indiana University standout who played in 48 games with the Fever after the team drafted her with its No. 7 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft. Berger struggled to find playing time in her second season with the Fever in 2024, only playing in 11 games.

On Wednesday, Indiana re-signed veteran free agent guard Kelsey Mitchell, who had the best statistical season of her seven-year career while playing along with fellow All-Star backcourt mate Caitlin Clark.

Clark, Mitchell and All-Star forward Aliyah Boston formed the nucleus of an Indiana team that last year made its first playoff appearance since 2016.

Here’s a look at the Fever’s newest players:

DeWanna Bonner

Bonner adds championship experience to the Fever, who are led by Clark, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Boston, who won the award in 2023. The 37-year-old Bonner won two titles in Phoenix, where new Indiana GM Amber Cox was president of the team.

Sophie Cunningham

Cunningham, 28, a versatile all-around player, has appeared in 182 games and shot 42.2% from the field and 36.2% from beyond the arc on her career. She played six seasons with the Mercury and was drafted with the No. 13 overall pick in 2019.

“Sophie is a player that we have targeted for a while, and one that we believe is a perfect fit for the style we want to play,” said Cox. “She is a fierce competitor, works incredibly hard on both ends of the floor and is one of the best shooters in our league. We are excited to add her to our squad.”

Natasha Howard

Howard, 33, missed the first part of last season with a broken foot but averaged 17.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals in 27 games with the Dallas Wings.

Not only will the 6-foot-2 Howard upgrade Indiana’s frontline, she also brings a much-needed defensive presence to the league’s third-highest scoring team. Howard made the WNBA’s all-defensive team in 2018 and 2019 and earned the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award in 2019.

Plus, she has a championship resume.

Howard won WNBA titles in 2017 with Minnesota, the team Clark grew up cheering for, and in 2018 and 2020 with Seattle. She also was part of EuroLeague title teams in 2023 and 2024, Turkish league title teams in 2022-23 and 2023-24 and the 2023 FIBA EuroCup Super Women champs.

Howard was originally drafted by the Fever with the fifth overall pick in 2014. Two years later, she was dealt to the Lynx. She has since played for the Storm, the New York Liberty and the Wings while also playing professionally in Israel, Cyprus, China, Italy, Russia and Turkey.

Howard has averaged at least 15 points in five of the last six seasons and has started at least 30 games in eight of her 11 WNBA seasons. She won the league’s 2018 Most Improved Player award, was a first team all-WNBA selection in 2019 and played for new Fever coach Stephanie White during White’s first stint on the Indiana coaching staff.

Jaelyn Brown

Following a four-year career overseas, Brown, 26, joined the Wings during training camp ahead of the 2024 season and earned a roster spot. She missed the majority of the season due to injuries before playing in 14 games overall, including 13 at the end of the season.

The 6-foot-1 Brown averaged 10 minutes per game, shooting 48% from the field and 50% from beyond the three-point arc while scoring 2.6 points per game.

Caitlin Clark’s reaction 

“I’m excited we made some great moves,” Clark said Sunday, a few hours before her alma mater, the University of Iowa, retired her jersey. “I think you know (president of basketball and business operations) Kelly (Krauskopf) and Amber and the whole Fever organization are wanting to help us win now. That’s really important. They are putting really good pieces together that will complement each other really, really well.”