Dream’s DeWanna Bonner embracing the whirlwind

The timing finally lined up to bring DeWanna Bonner to the Dream.

Last Thursday, the Dream acquired the six-time WNBA All-Star after she and the Phoenix Mercury agreed to a buyout earlier in the week. The move gave the Dream another strong veteran voice in the locker room as they look to make a meaningful postseason run.

For Bonner, who won two championships with the Mercury in 2009 and 2014, everything felt right with the opportunity to help the Dream in their championship bid.

“First of all, how hard they play,” Bonner told reporters before her Dream debut in Sunday’s 89-81 win over the Minnesota Lynx.

“They play really hard, night in and night out. They play fast-paced. They shoot 3s. I love to shoot 3s. And, I’m like an hour, 30 minutes from my hometown, about two hours from Auburn, where I went to college, probably a couple hours from my kids.

“So it’s just great basketball, 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 all aligned, and it’s just crazy. It’s surreal that I’m here right now.”

But even battling the surrealism of joining a new team with fewer than five games to play, Bonner has jumped right in.

She got up during huddles, clapped her hands and kept the energy flowing through the timeouts.

“If I can help in anyway, coming in right then that night,” Bonner said. “Listen, now I’m on this team, so that’s my record (too). So it’s just like, ‘yeah, let’s get this win, let’s lock in.’

“And you kind of see when you watch them play, and you’re like, ‘OK, that’s not normal how they were playing.’ It was very uncharacteristic, so it’s just like, ‘OK, find it, find it, figure it out,’ and whatever tidbits I can give to help. And I didn’t know any plays, but I know basketball, so I’m gonna speak up.”

The Dream, though, look forward to the impact Bonner will have on the court. She hustled in transition, running the floor with teammate Rhyne Howard after she picked off Lynx guard Courtney Williams. Then she made a running layup, her second of the game. Two minutes later, she knocked down her first 3-pointer in a Dream uniform.

The 17-year veteran had seven points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal off the bench on Sunday.

The Dream head into the FIBA World Cup break with another win under their belt, and Bonner looks to use that time to get up to speed. Then it’s the mad dash to solidify their positioning in the playoff seedings.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Bonner said. “But I’m still studying and learning, and I have only one day of practice, and not even a practice; it’s kind of a shootaround (or) walkthrough.