It’s time to stop sleeping on Alyssa Thomas

Thomas is one of the best players in WNBA history... so why isn’t she widely recognized as such?

Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series from SB Nation profiling the 2025 WNBA All-Star teams. Today, let’s get to know Alyssa Thomas.

In a contest for most underrated athlete on the planet, Alyssa Thomas may take the cake. The 12-year WNBA veteran is a record-breaker, tide-shifter, and instantly makes any team a contender. Yet, she is incredibly underpraised. Just take last week, for example — Thomas became the first player in WNBA history to score 15 points to go with 10 rebounds and 15 assists in a single game.

Did you even know? In a world where you can find TikTok video essays and endless social media arguments about why your favorite player is better than someone else’s? Where is Thomas in those conversations?

She’s known around the league as a triple-double machine and holds the record for most such stat lines in league history, with 16 total. She is the only player to have multiple triple-doubles in the WNBA playoffs. This season’s All-Star nod became her sixth total, but even so, she made the reserves instead of the starters, which she very well should have made. Even in 2023, when she was in a three-way battle for MVP with Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, Thomas was viewed as the “third.”

So, what is it about Thomas that makes people sleep on her talent so much?

One theory is that her efforts aren’t as “flashy” as a player scoring 30+ points a night, making shots from wild distances, or being known for heroball. Her dominance is well-rounded, fundamental, and effortless to the untrained eye. Sure, she’s “only” averaging 15.3 points per game this year, but she’s also averaging 9.5 assists (highest in the WNBA), and 7.5 boards per game — almost a triple-double! She can really do it all.

That might seem like a big weight on her shoulders, but it’s not, because she doesn’t have shoulders. Literally. One fun fact fans like to mention during a great Alyssa Thomas showing is that she has torn labrums in both of her shoulders, something she could have gotten surgery on but opted not to. It’s why her shooting motion looks different. Next time you are watching a Phoenix Mercury game, keep an eye out whenever Thomas pulls up for a shot. Her free-throw motion is particularly interesting, as the motion comes mostly from her wrist and elbow and almost not at all from the shoulder. Yeah, those are the torn labrums that she’s ignored to become one of the best players in WNBA history without.

That’s not why Thomas feels that people haven’t given her the respect she deserves, though; it’s the consistent excellence, the elite fundamentals, and the way she can take over a game no matter the situation.

After spending her entire career in Connecticut with no championship — or feeling of proper respect from even her own organization — to show for it, Thomas decided to make the move to Phoenix in 2025. She’s propelled that team to a top place in WNBA standings by just playing her consistent brand of hoops. Even as her other big-three partners in Kahleah Copper and Satou Sabally have been in and out with injury, when Thomas is in, she leads the charge. That mix of dependable leadership with the elite and experienced “rookie” talent the Mercury have gathered this season is a perfect recipe for success. The team is in 2nd place league wide at the moment with a record of 14-6.

Thomas has a better shot at a championship than ever this season because she’s with an organization that knows her worth, even if no one else does. They have put her in the perfect position to lead — she has elite teammates, elite facilities, elite coaches, and the franchise even brought in her fiancée, DeWanna Bonner, last week. The Mercury have seemingly learned a lesson the whole WNBA ecosystem should have picked up long ago: when you have an Alyssa Thomas-caliber talent on your team, you show them you value them, so they can play their brand of hoops with no stress or limitations.

Now it’s time for the rest of the basketball world to follow Phoenix’s lead and give Alyssa Thomas the flowers she deserves.