WNBA playoffs: Phoenix Mercury raise postseason standard as Minnesota Lynx face an offseason of uncertainty

PHOENIX — If there’s one thing DeWanna Bonner knows how to do, it’s win playoff games. And in her 94th career postseason appearance, Bonner provided the spark the Phoenix Mercury needed to take Game 4 over the Minnesota Lynx 86-81 and advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021.

“I’m sure that there were people wondering why I was playing DB at times in this series,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said after the game. “We went and got her for this reason. I told her after the game, the first games weren’t a big enough moment for her. She needed the fourth quarter to step up. And, I mean, she hit some big 3s. And you know, her experience, that’s why you go get a player like that.”

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Bonner had 11 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter, leading Phoenix as Minnesota collapsed. The fourth quarter ended up being a microcosm of the series: Minnesota had a 68-55 lead to start the final frame, but couldn’t hit shots late to hold on and push for a Game 5. Phoenix, meanwhile, stayed calm and found its shots to take the lead with 3:39 left in the game — on a Bonner 3-pointer — which they never relinquished.

Bonner’s path this season has been winding. She was drafted by Phoenix in 2009 and won a WNBA championship in her first season, then again in 2013. She signed with the Connecticut Sun before the 2020 season and played there for five seasons, making the playoffs each year. Bonner signed with the Indiana Fever before this season, but moved on after playing just nine games there. Phoenix signed her in July, and it was something of a full-circle moment, as they needed her veteran leadership.

“It’s hard to get here. It’s hard to get to the Finals,” Bonner said. “I was just telling them, like, I’ve been in the league and all these playoffs appearances, and I’ve only been to the Finals, maybe, what, three times, and just how hard it is to get back there.”

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Bonner also reunited this season with Alyssa Thomas, who played for the Connecticut Sun for 10 seasons before coming to Phoenix via a four-team trade last offseason, alongside Satou Sabally. That duo joined Kahleah Copper, who was traded to Phoenix before the 2024 season, to form a formidable big three that finished the regular season 27-17, in fourth place in the league. In the Mercury’s first season since Diana Taurasi retired and Brittney Griner left to sign with Atlanta, they still carried high expectations.

“Coming here, you know, I didn’t want any drop off,” said Thomas, who’s played in 54 career postseason games but has yet to win a championship. “Playoffs is a standard for myself. And coming here, you know, their history with winning championships, I just wanted to keep that going. And we have a group that believed in that. We stayed the course. We’ve had our adversity, and we’re back in the Finals, which is extremely hard to get to, and no one picked us. We’re gonna just continue to believe in ourselves.”

Phoenix has made the postseason in 12 of the last 13 seasons, and last won a championship in 2014. Their last Finals appearance, in 2021, was a loss to Copper’s Chicago Sky. The Mercury drew on all that playoff experience on Sunday, with Thomas putting up a team-high 23 points and a game-high 10 assists. Sabally scored 21, and Copper added 13.

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As the Mercury proved their doubters wrong, the Lynx’s season slipped away. Coming in as the No. 1 seed, Minnesota was the only team to sweep the first round of the playoffs. They took Game 1 of the semifinals, then lost home-court advantage after Phoenix overcame a 20-point deficit in Game 2. But Game 3 proved to be a turning point in this series, with Lynx star Napheesa Collier badly injuring her ankle and head coach Cheryl Reeve getting ejected before going railing on the referees post-game.

The remarks from the WNBA’s winningest head coach in history punctuated an ongoing conversation about WNBA officiating, earned her a suspension for Game 4, and changed the course of this semifinal series.

Instead of taking the floor with the starting five on Sunday night, Collier used a mobility scooter to get onto the court. While her left ankle isn’t fractured, as was first feared, it seemed unlikely she’d be able to return if the Lynx advanced. After coming in second in MVP voting to Aces star A’ja Wilson, Collier was primed to be the star of the postseason. But playing without her, and with Reeve watching from her hotel room, Minnesota just didn’t have the juice to hold on and push for a Game 5.

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This ending, coming off a 2024 Finals loss to the New York Liberty, is a tough pill to swallow. Normally, a team in this position would face questions about whether they’ll run it back the next season. But that question is complicated by the ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the league and players union.

The current CBA expires on October 31. Negotiations for the next CBA have been tense as the players want to capitalize after years of explosive growth for the WNBA, with attention, viewership and media rights deals skyrocketing. Most veterans have timed their contracts to end with the current CBA, so only players on their rookie contracts are tethered to their teams. Minnesota only has two players under contract for the 2026 season: Dorka Juhasz, who didn’t play in the WNBA this year, and Anastasiia Kosu.

Much of the Lynx core has been together for at least two seasons, if not more, and they’ve credited that bond for their success to this point.

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“I mean, it’s just amazing people, right? It makes it easy to come to work and makes it easier to play hard for the person that you’re out there battling with,” said Lynx guard Courtney Williams, who scored 20 points in the Game 4 loss. “So I think that’s been our m.o. all season, last season.”

But with so few players under contract and so much uncertainty in CBA negotiations — not to mention upcoming expansion drafts with Toronto and Portland joining the league in 2026 — there’s no guarantee this Lynx core will get another chance to play together.

Phoenix, meanwhile, can stave off any uncertainty for now. They’ll learn their Finals opponent on Tuesday, when the Las Vegas Aces host the Indiana Fever for a decisive Game 5. Game 1 of the 2025 Finals is scheduled for Friday.