DeWanna Bonner’s simple WNBA couples advice as Paige Bueckers-Azzi Fudd questions swirl: ‘Personal preference’

DeWanna Bonner wants any WNBA couple to do whatever is best for them, no matter her experience and knowledge on navigating a relationship in the league.

Bonner has been playing alongside and dating her now-fiancee and Mercury teammate Alyssa Thomas since 2020. The pair has been a staple couple in the league.

When asked if she has ever advised young players about handling relationships in the league, the 38-year-old, two-time WNBA champ gave a very straightforward response.

“I feel like my personal relationship is my personal relationship. AT and I have been doing this for a long time. I feel like we know how to handle things,” Bonner said after Mercury practice on Monday.

Alyssa Thomas #25 and DeWanna Bonner #14 of the Phoenix Mercury smile after the game against the Minnesota Lynx during Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals on September 26, 2025 at PHX Arena. NBAE via Getty Images

“We handle business when it’s business and we have our relationship. Obviously it works, we’ve been playing together for what like eight, nine years now. I just feel like it’s personal preference and whatever that people feel like they need to do in their relationship to keep it going, that’s what they do and we do what we do.”

After initially meeting online, Bonner was eventually traded by the Mercury to the Sun in 2020 and became teammates for the first time with Thomas, who had been playing in Connecticut since her rookie year in 2014.

The two bonded during the COVID-19 bubble season and eventually went public as a couple in 2021 — with Thomas proposing to Bonner in July 2023.

It’s a hot topic around the league, especially after Azzi Fudd was drafted No.1 overall to the Wings, where she will play alongside former UConn teammate Paige Bueckers.

The romantic relationship between the pair has been in the spotlight since last week. In her opening Wings press conference, Fudd was asked about her off-the-court relationship with Bueckers and a team media relations staff member shut down the question. 

Bueckers addressed playing with Fudd at the Wings’ first practice on Sunday, but didn’t touch on anything beyond the court.

Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings pose for a photo during the 2026 WNBA draft on April 13, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images

“Obviously, we have a lot of experience going back to, shoot, when we were like 16 playing together. I know her game really well, she knows my game really well, so to be able to be back in this stage to live out our dreams,” Bueckers said. “This is stuff we talked about since we were freshmen in high school. Being at this stage, we got to be together in college, we got to play together at the junior Olympic level, now we get to play in the WNBA together, it’s just a dream come true.”

The dating rumors all call back to when Fudd posted a mirror picture on Instagram that exposed her phone case that read “Paige Buecker’s girlfriend” in July 2025.

Bueckers also confirmed the pair were in a relationship during an interview with “WAG Talk” in that same month. The pair later appeared in an interview on “Close Friends Only with Instagram” the following month.