BJ Mathews is the host of the THE PULL UP! Basketball Podcast. He’s a Sparks credentialed creator representing thePeachBasket. On this article, Alyssa Thomas is the definition of an MVP, he makes the case for Alyssa Thomas as WNBA MVP!
There’s something scorching within the Valley metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona, and it’s not simply the summer time dry warmth. It’s the Phoenix Mercury and their chief Alyssa Thomas. She is a soft-spoken, reserved individual off the courtroom whereas being a fiery, passionate chief on the courtroom.
MVP doesn’t simply have to face for “Most worthy participant”—it may well simply as nicely stand for “Most worthy individual.” The fierce participant Thomas is on the courtroom is sort of a shock in comparison with how she is simply the exact opposite off the courtroom. Nonetheless, that is basketball, so let’s make the case for her as a basketball participant.
Availability
The well-known saying goes, “the very best capability is availability.” The quote rings true, although, when it comes not solely to a prestigious award just like the MVP, but in addition to components corresponding to group chemistry, group document, and respect amongst teammates and opponents, which spotlight how beneficial a participant is.
This season, Thomas has performed 34 out of 39 video games. The 5 video games she has missed had been resulting from a calf damage she suffered in late Could/early June.
Within the aftermath of the Mercury’s 91-84 win over the Los Angeles Sparks final Tuesday, Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts highlighted that Thomas was coping with an sickness during the last couple of days however made it clear she was going to be there for her group at this a part of the season.
He praised how Thomas comes able to compete each single night time and that he wish to see extra nationwide recognition for her.
“Tonight, she was completely sick as hell, and he or she hasn’t executed something with the group the final couple of days. The one factor I respect about AT is each night time she goes to come back with it,” Tibbetts acknowledged.
Whereas she has missed 5 video games this season, different MVP contenders A’ja Wilson and Napheesa Collier have missed their share of video games as nicely. Wilson has missed six video games this season whereas Collier has missed seven. Different younger notable stars Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers have missed video games as nicely.
While you look from prime to backside, her presence and affect are as strongly felt via her availability as anybody within the league whereas sustaining group success.
Crew document enchancment
That is Thomas’s first season with the Mercury, however the best way she has been orchestrating the group, one would assume she has been right here a number of seasons. It is a particular present: to have the ability to adapt to a brand new surroundings with new gamers and a brand new system and make a right away affect.
Within the 2024 season, the Mercury completed with a document of 19-21 and a first-round exit. This season, with nonetheless 5 video games remaining, they’re at 25-14 and at the moment tied with the Atlanta Dream for the third spot within the WNBA. Thomas and Satou Sabally are the 2 most important acquisitions made to the Mercury roster. That’s true affect: transferring from one season the place the group was beneath .500.
Not solely that, however Thomas’s former group, the Connecticut Solar, was in a position to expertise profitable. For 3 straight seasons with Thomas main the cost, they averaged 25 wins per season. This 12 months, the Solar are on the backside of the league at 10-29.
She has the nickname “the engine” that has adopted her all through her WNBA profession. With out the engine, the automotive can’t begin, and that’s Thomas to the Mercury. Her presence is contagious, permitting her teammates to be the very best variations of themselves, and that impacts the group document.
Making your teammates higher
When talking on worth, it goes past numbers, flashy highlights, and level output. By her play, Thomas’s largest mark exterior of her a number of triple-doubles is how she will have an effect on her teammates in a constructive approach. That was strongly echoed by the Mercury’s scoring risk, Kahleah Copper.
Kahleah Copper on Alyssa Thomas
“Very unselfish. I don’t assume she will get the credit score she deserves. Identify another person doing what she is doing,” Copper questioned.
For the 2025 season, Thomas is averaging 15.8 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 9.2 apg, and 1.6 spg. She is prime 15 in these main classes within the WNBA: factors, rebounds, assists, steals, and subject purpose share. Copper is right; who else within the league is doing this whereas impacting an important factor—profitable? That’s what appears to drive Thomas essentially the most.
“Whether or not it’s scoring, rebounding, aiding, I’m all the time enjoying protection. My biggest job is to get my teammates simple open pictures, and I take lots of satisfaction in that,” Thomas acknowledged.
This wouldn’t be the primary time the town of Phoenix skilled such a particular participant who mirrors Thomas’s character on and off the courtroom. Former Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash was back-to-back MVP in 2005 and 2006, steering the Suns to a profitable tradition immediately upon his arrival.
There is no such thing as a assure that Thomas would be the 2025 WNBA MVP, however one factor is for sure: she must be acknowledged for a way she is elevating and main her group whereas making a wholesome and aggressive surroundings for everybody.
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