Fans watched in awe this past season as the Indiana Fever seemed to suffer unexpected setback after setback, yet still managed to prevail and make it all the way to the WNBA semifinals.
There were many unexpected twists and turns for the team along the way, including the unexpected exit of player DeWanna Bonner near the beginning of the season. Now, star player Lexie Hull, who helped carry the Fever to the end of their season, is speaking out about Bonner’s exit, how it really made her feel, and how she believes it may have affected the team.
In an interview with Glamour, Hull expressed confusion over Bonner’s seemingly unexplained exit.
“I was super, super, super excited because finally there’s a [player in my position] that I can look up to that has won in the league and has all these accomplishments and knows what it takes, and I can learn something from her,” she said. “And then she randomly leaves, and we’re all just kind of like, ‘What happened?’ We were never given an explanation.”
Bonner, who has played in the WNBA for 16 seasons, joined the Phoenix Mercury following her time with the Fever.
Hull acknowledged the difficulty of Bonner leaving, yet also acknowledged that it may have made the team stronger in the long run.
“To have no explanation was really challenging, but I think that helped us grow closer together because we’re like, ‘All right, this is us. We’re here. We’re going to support each other. We’re loving each other. We’re going to fight for each other. We’re not going to leave. We’re in this together.’”
As for Bonner, she has not gone into detail about the reasoning behind her exit, but noted that she felt “the fit did not work out.”
