PHOENIX — It’s a wild thought. But it’s also a prudent one.
There is a real chance Alyssa Thomas, a player whose name litters the record books and all-time lists, never wins a WNBA championship or an MVP award. The seasons of coming close — and falling short — are stacking up.
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The Phoenix Mercury’s swift loss this week was Thomas’ third trip to the WNBA Finals. She reached the final stretch twice with the Connecticut Sun, where she played her first 11 seasons. Her third-place finish in this year’s MVP vote is her fourth consecutive season as a top-five finalist.
The era in which she’s playing is part of the problem.
It is the second time Thomas has lost to the Las Vegas Aces, winners of three of the last four championships. In three of her MVP finalist years, she lost to historic four-time winner A’ja Wilson. In the other, she earned the most first-place votes, but fell seven points shy of Breanna Stewart in one of the closest races in league history.
Alyssa Thomas joined Kahleah Copper in Phoenix this season to form a big three with Satou Sabally. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Christian Petersen via Getty Images)
Thomas opted for a change of scenery in free agency after more than a decade with the franchise that drafted her. She chose a franchise with a practice facility for improved performance and training, saying during the preseason that it was a breath of fresh air she needed.
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“I feel different than in other Finals that I’ve been in, just the investment that we have in the team and everything that comes with being in Phoenix,” Thomas told Yahoo Sports before Game 1. “I think it was a match made in heaven. We both kind of needed each other.”
Phoenix traversed early-season injuries to Thomas, Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper. Despite only two players from last season returning on the roster, the new group secured a No. 4 seed and upset both 2024 Finals teams, the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, in the playoffs.
But the Aces were too much, and the Mercury couldn’t muster a single win. Thomas said on Friday that she believed they relaxed when they reached the Finals.
“The Finals is hard for a reason,” Thomas said. “I’ve been saying every stage it gets harder, and the Finals is the hardest stage that you can be on. [It was] definitely a learning experience for a lot of players in our locker room that have never been on this level, but [I’m] still super proud of how our team fought and competed and never gave up.”
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Kalani Brown, one of the two carryovers alongside Copper, is the only Mercury player signed to a contract in 2026. The majority of players not on rookie contracts are free agents, taking advantage of expected salary increases whenever the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is codified.
That includes Thomas, Sabally and Copper. Should they all return, and bring in some of the other rostered crew, the group will have a solid base to build off of under third-year head coach Nate Tibbetts.
“There’s still a lot of what ifs,” Thomas said after the Finals loss. “It’s early to say what the new CBA is, but I think for me coming to a new team after being somewhere for 11 years, it was so much fun. Everyone welcomed me with open arms. It’s been a while since I had a season like this where it’s a lot of fun to come into work every day from your front office to the team.”
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But nothing is certain this offseason, and other teams will be in the same situation. There could be major superteam vibes to a free agency in which nearly everyone is available.
The Mercury’s Finals berth isn’t the closest Thomas came to a title. In 2019, the Sun lost the final five minutes of a winner-take-all Game 5 to the Washington Mystics and league MVP Elena Delle Donne. Thomas averaged 18.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 7.6 assists on a team that included Jonquel Jones, Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman.
It was the first of four consecutive semifinal berths for the Sun. Thomas missed the majority of the 2021 season with a torn Achilles. She returned for the playoffs, but the top-seeded Sun were upset by the No. 6 seed Chicago Sky in the semifinals. They reached the Finals again in 2022, losing to the Aces in Game 4 at home.
The Sun were the league’s winningest team from 2017 to 2022 when the core began to break up. Jones asked for a trade to New York, where she lost her third Finals before breaking through in 2024. Williams also left, eventually landing in Minnesota, where she lost the 2024 Finals alongside Hiedeman. Head coach Curt Miller also exited.
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Thomas, 33, will begin her 13th WNBA season next year. She used to go overseas every WNBA offseason, but now plays in Unrivaled. The 6-foot-3 “Engine” is a seven-time All-Defensive player, but has yet to win a Defensive Player of the Year award, either. She led the league in assists in 2025, rebounds in 2023 and steals in 2020.
She could have many more championship chances depending on how long she plays. Diana Taurasi set the longevity marker at 21 years, with Sue Bird also playing into her 40s. Tina Charles, the 2012 MVP, will play in her 17th season. She also has yet to win a title, but has set aside ring chasing.
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Thomas’ overall health will also play a role. She’s played with two torn labrums for the majority of her career. She injured it briefly again late in the first half of Game 4, but returned after halftime and did not give any information on what happened other than, “I’m good.” The physical way she plays results in a significant amount of wear and tear on her body, another benefit of the move to Phoenix.
“[I’m] super grateful that I was able to have this opportunity,” Thomas said. “And I wouldn’t have changed anything about this season.”
