{"id":785811,"date":"2023-09-26T18:33:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T22:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=785811"},"modified":"2023-09-27T18:41:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T22:41:15","slug":"alyssa-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/alyssa-thomas\/","title":{"rendered":"Sun Star Alyssa Thomas is Shining Brighter Than Ever This Season and Rewriting WNBA History Books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story is featured in the latest issue of SLAM 246. Shop now. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alyssa Thomas is having a season like no other player in the W. Two years after rupturing her Achilles tendon while playing overseas, the Connecticut Sun forward is dominating every facet of the game and stuffing stat sheets on a nightly basis. AT is averaging a career-high in points (15.5), leads the League in rebounds (9.9) and ranks second in assists (7.9). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was super hard,\u201d Thomas, who\u2019s in her 10th season, says about away from the game. \u201cThat whole process\u2014that was my first major injury, which I needed surgery on. I was playing some really great basketball. There\u2019s always that in the back of your mind that you won\u2019t be the same player\u2026It was a very hard recovery mentally and physically for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The stigma that comes with suffering an injury of that magnitude\u2014whether she\u2019d return to normal form\u2014crept in the back of her mind, but Thomas knew she couldn\u2019t sulk despite feeling like she hit rock bottom. During that dark period, DeWanna Bonner, her All-Star teammate and fianc\u00e9e, came to her aid to let her know there was a light at the end of the tunnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe came to see me after I had my surgery, I hadn\u2019t left my room and she wasn\u2019t having it,\u201d Thomas says with a laugh.\u201d She made me come out of my room and took me out. From that moment on, that jump-started me to getting my stuff together and attacking the rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the eve of the playoffs, AT has a League-record 27 double-doubles and is the first player in WNBA history to lead the League in total rebounds (394) and assists (316) in the same season. Thomas also became the first player to post 25 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals in a game. She joined A\u2019ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart in the MVP race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d she says of the recognition. \u201cI think that\u2019s the highest accolade you can get as an athlete in this sport. For your name to go down as an MVP, that\u2019s something that stands forever. With so many great players that are playing now and have gone through this League to be an MVP, and [to] stand with all other MVPs\u2014like I said, the hugest honor you can accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thomas acknowledges that she likes to let her game do the talking and doesn\u2019t get caught up in all the hoopla of the MVP race, rankings and championship favorites from outsiders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s a lot,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m not one that\u2019s big on social media and all the attention, so the fact that there\u2019s something with people talking about the race or interviews asking why you should be the MVP\u2014I\u2019m definitely ready for the MVP [talk to be over] so I can focus on the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being an MVP contender and leading the No. 3-ranked Sun to a 27-13 regular season record, Thomas feels she and the team have been overlooked throughout the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you look at the preseason rankings, we were nowhere near the top,\u201d she says. \u201cSo many people talked about [the fact] that we lost [in the WNBA Finals] and kinda forgot about what we did have. We really are a contender, and I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s been talking about us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether she\u2019s named MVP or not, AT has her sights set on something bigger than individual accolades: a WNBA championship. After falling short in 2019 and last season, the do-it-all forward is hungrier than ever and focused on bringing the franchise its first-ever title come October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe one thing about me is that my game is different,\u201d she says. \u201cI bring a different look to the game, yet I\u2019m playing hard each and every game\u2014the same intensity and energy level. The biggest thing is I\u2019ve never changed who I am as a player, made my style or how I play basketball fit into this League. I think that\u2019s a huge reason why I\u2019m having a season that has never been seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Photos via Getty Images. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story is featured in the latest issue of SLAM 246. Shop now. Alyssa Thomas is having a season like no other player in the W. Two years after rupturing her Achilles tendon while playing overseas, the Connecticut Sun forward is dominating every facet of the game and stuffing stat sheets on a nightly basis. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":785816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49435],"tags":[65027,9476,3034,62525,1863,63726],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-785811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-magazine","tag-2023-wnba-playoffs","tag-alyssa-thomas","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-feature-1","tag-wnba","tag-wslam"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785811"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785864,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785811\/revisions\/785864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785811"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=785811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}