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USATSI

14-year WNBA veteran DeWanna Bonner hasn't left home since the league's season concluded. After years of playing overseas and traveling during the summer in the WNBA, Bonner committed this offseason to her family -- more specifically, her twin daughters, Cali and Demi. 

"This is the first year that I have been able to spend every single day in the offseason with my girls," Bonner told CBS Sports during a phone interview Wednesday. "So now I feel like I've created a bond that's just unmatched, and it's been super, super, super special to me. 

"Motherhood means more to me now than it did since I've had them, and that's just gonna be pretty special. I always get emotional talking about it because I've missed out on so much with them. But now, oh, man, our bond is so crazy ... those are my best friends."

The change in schedule has come with its own challenges, but the rewards are more than worth it. All the more reason her flight to Auburn this weekend will be bittersweet. The sweet part is obvious. Auburn will honor Bonner on Sunday by retiring her collegiate jersey. DeWanna Bonner will be only the fifth Tiger women's basketball alumnus bestowed the honor. 

The bitter part is knowing her best friends will not be by her side -- at least that is the plan as of now. 

"I had to explain to them because I'm leaving Friday, and this is only the second time I've left [this] offseason. And I'm like, 'I'm going to my college to get my jersey put in the ceiling. It's going to be, you know, like pretty high up there'" Bonner said with a laugh. 

The plan is to keep the twins at home so Bonner can enjoy the moment and not feel guilty about dragging her daughters around while she's being pulled in different directions. At the same time, her renewed commitment to Cali and Demi make it hard to say goodbye, even for a weekend. Not to mention Demi, who Bonner says "could care less" about basketball, seemed excited at the notion of seeing mommy's name and number way high up in the ceiling.

The twins made their mother promise to take pictures. Bonner agreed, and so the matter is settled. 

Reflecting on her legacy

Although Demi and Cali will stay at home, Bonner will have family and teammates traveling to celebrate with her this weekend. As the Sunday celebration marches closer, she's had time to reflect on her basketball past, and what an honor like this means for her future. 

"I just recently sat down -- I don't get much time by myself because my kids, but when I do, I'm just like ... 'Wow, I'm really about to get my jersey retired,'" Bonner said with an inflection that sounded like a mix of wonderment and pride. "The university has been around for ages, and so many players on so many different teams have come and gone, and then here I am, and my jersey is getting retired. ... Excuse my French, but I'm a f---ing legend."

The excitement in Bonner's voice is palpable. It's taken time, time that the mother of 6-year-old twins seldom has, but now Bonner is settling into how special this weekend will be, and what an honor it is to have her legacy cemented in this way. 

Bonner is well aware of the greatest that have walked the Auburn campus over the years. Notable alumni include singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett, actress Octavia Spencer and singer Lionel Richie. Fellow athletes include football and baseball great Bo Jackson and fellow former Phoenix pro hooper Charles Barkley. 

Bonner's No. 24 jersey will join Auburn women's basketball legends Carolyn Jones (1988-91), Ruthie Bolton (1985-89), Becky Jackson (1980-84), and Vickie Orr (1985-89). Bonner's 2,162 career points for the Tigers still stands as the the all-time most in program history. She is also top-10 in all-time rebounds (1,047, third), blocks (139, seventh), made free throws (600, first), and scoring average (17.2 points per game, fourth). She was also the first Auburn player to ever lead the SEC in scoring. 

Although Bonner is still getting comfortable with the notion her jersey will soon hang from Neville Arena, making an impact was something she thought of when she committed to Nell Fortner and the Auburn Tigers. 

Homegrown hero

15 years ago as a freshman, Bonner was driving home every weekend, two hours, one-way to her mother's house. Needless to say, leaving the state for college and basketball was out of the question -- at least back then. Her propensity for being homesick made Auburn a good fit. Fortner was also a big selling point. 

Fortner had little NCAA experience when she took the helm at Auburn in 2004. She'd spent only one year at Purdue as head coach, but also led the U.S Women's National Team (1997-2000) and the Indiana Fever (2000-2003) before joining the Tigers. At the time, Auburn wasn't considered an elite program, not like it had been in the 1980s. 

Fortner and her staff began recruiting Alabama-born players in an effort to reenergize the program. Bonner, Whitney Boddie, and Sherrell Hobbs were among Auburn's target recruits. Fortner also brought in Chantelle Blakely from Nashville, KeKe Carrier from Lake Charles, Louisiana and junior college transfer Trevesha Jackson who, as fate would have it, grew up in Auburn. 

"Those are my like my sisters, and we just said, 'OK, we're gonna go and try to put Auburn on a map,'" Bonner said of her freshman class. "At the time, you know, you didn't hear too much about Auburn. It was kind of on the back burner for SEC schools because you had Tennessee, you had an LSU, you had Georgia, who was really good -- Vanderbilt [too], at the time. So we said, 'Let's go and try to turn the program around,' and and we did." 

By her senior year, Auburn started the season 10-0 en route to the 2009 SEC regular-season championship and its second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth. 

"We've been able to recruit quality athletes here, and we're in a great area to do that," Fortner told ESPNW in 2008. 

It was around this time that Bonner started thinking about what could come next. Although she knew Fortner coached the Fever and the national team, Bonner didn't enter Auburn thinking about going pro. 

Birth of a champion

As she got deeper into her college career -- and making less weekend drives home -- Bonner started to find her game. By the time she was WNBA Draft eligible, she was an SEC Player of the Year, a three-time All-SEC First Team selection and Auburn's all-time leading scorer. 

"I was just being me and playing basketball. I wasn't thinking about a record. I wasn't thinking about going to the WNBA. I mean, I was just just playing basketball, having fun," Bonner recalled about her senior year. "I feel like if I were to put a little bit more work into it, I probably could have been even better ... and maybe been a little bit more excited about the record that I was setting. I think I'm more excited now, like dang I really set this record. I'm really about to have my jersey retired." 

One doesn't have to guess what a more focused Bonner can do while playing against elite competition. After Auburn, Bonner went into WNBA camp in Phoenix with current and future Hall of Famers Penny Taylor, Britney Griner, Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter and head coach Sandy Brondello. Bonner would score 11.2 points per game her rookie season, making her Phoenix's third-leading scorer behind Taurasi and Pondexter. 

Bonner capped off her rookie season by earning her first of three Sixth Player of the Year honors en route to her first WNBA championship. In many ways, her 2009 season in Phoenix provided a blueprint for what it takes to not only be a professional basketball player, but to be an elite basketball player. 

When Bonner saw Taylor getting to the gym early, she followed. When she saw Pondexter working on ball handling, she followed. When she saw Taurasi taking extra shots after practice, she followed. Bonner had the rare experience of also seeing the hard work immediately pay off in the form of a championship. There was no going back. 

"This is the standard and this is where I need to be," Bonner reflected. "That was the cool part. I didn't see anybody slacking ... we worked our butts off that season and I'm like this is what it is. This is what it takes. This is my blueprint. And I don't think I've strayed from that blueprint at all since Phoenix." 

Chasing WNBA history

The work ethic Bonner learned in Phoenix has indeed carried throughout the span of her WNBA and overseas career.  As Bonner prepares for her 15th WNBA season, she has two championships and five All-Star selections. Bonner is one of only two players in league history to tally at least 6,800 points, 2,800 rebounds, 1,000 assists, 550 steals and 300 blocks -- the other is Tamika Catchings. Last season with the Connecticut Sun, Bonner recorded a career-high 41 points over the Las Vegas Aces, a franchise record for points in a single game. 

On other words, Mama Bonner isn't done yet. 

Bonner has already dedicated the 2024 WNBA campaign to her best friends, Demi and Cali. The Sun have been a strong contender for years, and Bonner hopes all the hard work will bear fruit. For her part, Bonner is committing to even more workouts, better ball handling, and more efficient shooting. 

"I literally train every single day trying to put something different into my game so I can be better than I was last year," Bonner said. 

And on Sunday as her name and number is lifted, as she told her daughters, way high up into the ceiling, somewhere in the back of Bonner's mind she will be thinking of who she is and what she hopes comes after her playing days are over.

"I'm a great. I'm a great athlete. I'm a great basketball player, and I'm a great mother. ... I am an all-time great," Bonner said. "I will finish my career as one of the greatest to go down in WNBA history." 

The Auburn Tigers will honor Bonner on Sunday before they face Alabama at Neville Arena.