Emptying the Notebook: Triple-Doubles, DeWanna Bonner, and Sellouts
It's only been two days.
Just two days of WNBA regular season action in 2024 and so much has happened.
- There was Caitlin Clark’s WNBA debut, which set an unfortunate statistical record but still a very positive viewership record.
- Diana Taurasi continues to knock down threes.
- And Tina Charles picked up right where she left off.
- So did A’ja Wilson (and Candace Parker, in a way…).
And that’s far from it. @WBBTimeline is the place to keep up in real time, but I want to use this space regularly throughout the season to empty out some additional notes and thoughts on the bigger picture of these historic performances.
Layshia Clarendon gets their first triple-double, again
The first time Layshia Clarendon recorded a triple-double in the WNBA, it was publicized as the “sixth regular season triple-double” in WNBA history.
It was 2017, and Clarendon was in their second season playing for the Atlanta Dream. A 15-point, 11-assist, and 10-rebound performance made headlines twice: once as the sixth triple-double, and then again soon after as the third triple-double in Atlanta to be rescinded over the course of just two seasons. In 2016, both Angel McCoughtry and Brittney Griner finished games in Atlanta with triple-doubles that were later corrected to near-triple-doubles.
Nearly seven years later, Clarendon has landed in Los Angeles, starting for the Sparks after stops in Connecticut, New York, and Minnesota. Clarendon reunites with head coach Curt Miller, who they played for in Connecticut as well.
As fate would have it, the Sparks opened the 2024 WNBA season at “home” at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid against none other than the Atlanta Dream, and though the Dream came out with the 92-81 win, it was a full-circle game for Clarendon.
11 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds gave Clarendon their first triple-double in the WNBA (for the second time), a game that (barring more statistical corrections) goes down as just the third time in league history a player has recorded a triple-double with zero turnovers.
What was the sixth regular season triple-double just seven years ago is now the 31st regular season triple-double and second in as many days, a testament to both the WNBA’s triple-double explosion and the staying power of a player who commands the floor as Clarendon continues to do.
DeWanna Bonner enters the top 5 in scoring
On June 18, 2017, Diana Taurasi scored 19 points in a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, passing Tina Thompson (7,488 points) to become the WNBA’s all-time regular season scoring leader.
Taurasi and the Mercury couldn’t keep up with the defending champion Sparks, falling 90-59.
It was a bit of a new-look Mercury just three years after their title run, having sent Candice Dupree to Indiana in a three-team trade and without the services of three-time Sixth Player of the Year and 2015 All Star DeWanna Bonner, who missed the 2017 season after announcing she was pregnant, giving birth to twins in July.
It’s the only season Bonner has missed and the only year since she entered the league in 2009 she hasn’t played at least 32 games (excluding the 2020 22-game season).
After a couple more years with the Mercury, Bonner made the move to Connecticut where she enters her fifth year with the Sun, looking again to make history by securing the franchise’s first WNBA title and already making individual history.
In the Sun’s 2024 opener, Bonner scored 20 points as the Sun took out the Fever 92-71. Along the way, she passed Dupree to move up to fifth in WNBA history in scoring.
| Player | Points |
|---|---|
| Diana Taurasi | 10,131 |
| Tina Thompson | 7,488 |
| Tamika Catchings | 7,380 |
| Tina Charles | 7,136 |
| DeWanna Bonner | 6,901 |
| Candice Dupree | 6,895 |
This is a player who started just nine games in their first three years in the league, winning Sixth Player of the Year each of those seasons. Just a two-time All-WNBA selection but a five-time All Star (who is likely one of the many victims of the All-Star-less Olympic years), Bonner is the picture of longevity in the WNBA.
And she’s not the only player in the top five who suffered from missing time in the league along the way.
Consider that Taurasi leads the league in all-time scoring despite skipping the 2015 season and not reaching double-digit games played in multiple seasons (2012, 2019).
And that Tamika Catchings still sits at third nearly eight years post-retirement despite her rookie season being delayed a year due to injury and missing the equivalent of a full season of games when you combine her 2007, 2008, and 2014 seasons. The same could be said for Tina Thompson in second place (still! she retired in 2013!), who missed a significant number of games from 2004 to 2006.
Then there’s the other prolific Tina, Tina Charles, who looks poised to move all the way up to second this year despite opting out or otherwise not playing in 2020 and 2023.
With each of the players in the top six, the key is longevity and consistency. Each of the scoring leaders remain(ed) productive late in to their careers, Bonner chief among them.
With Taurasi, Charles, and Bonner all playing like they don’t intend to slow down in a league playing even longer seasons than a decade ago, they have a chance to retire (eventually) as a new special top three for the WNBA’s next scoring leaders to aspire to pass.
Fans pack Mohegan Sun Arena
Speaking of Bonner and the Sun, it was a special season opener in Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday night as fans packed the house to see one of last year’s semifinalists take on the Indiana Fever and their back-to-back top draft picks.
The Connecticut Sun officially recorded their opening night attendance as 8,910 (marked a sellout), their best home opener since 2005 when they sold out the same arena with 9,341 in attendance.
While the game was frequently touted the Sun’s first sellout home opener since their inaugural season in 2003, it appears they sold out Mohegan Sun Arena for each of their first three home openers.
From May 23, 2004, following the Sun’s home and season opener against the Mercury:
From May 29, 2005, following the Sun’s home opener (and third regular season game) against the Mercury:
The intricacies of game attendance are not always clear, but whether it’s a sellout 8,910 in attendance or a sellout 9,341 in attendance, if opening night portends a season of increased attendance for the Sun and the league more broadly, that’s a win.
Meeting the moment
The WNBA’s boom is going to continue to inspire retrospectives on how the league got here, and Katie Barnes’ wrote a great one (and not just because it cites the Across the Timeline attendance data, but not not because of that).
Happy reading!
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