UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Alyssa Thomas just has that switch.
She’s capable of flipping it on at will every time she steps on a basketball court. Posting a near triple-double in a June outing against the Los Angeles Sparks, the Connecticut Sun’s star was right on brand. The urgency in her communication, the pure physicality in her movement, it was typical stuff from the five-time WNBA All-Star.
Or entirely atypical for anyone who remembers the shy 5-year-old from the Harrisburg area who was once afraid to step on the hardwood.
Quiet and unassuming, Thomas is more introverted off the court. When the action’s live, she’s anything but. Now 32, Thomas’ maturity as a player and person are on full display in and out of the game, in complete control of when to loosen up, when to turn it on.
Settling into her chair at the Sun’s postgame press conference deep in the bowels of Mohegan Sun Arena, Thomas was as loose as her pregame warmups. From playfully twirling 360 degrees on the balls of her feet after knocking down shots, to interjecting with a joke when asked about the Sun’s best start in franchise history, she was cool as ice.
“Don’t jinx us,” Thomas said, laughing.
Two years removed from a WNBA Finals loss, Thomas is hungry. She proved it with runner-up finishes for MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 and the accolades only drive her more.
It’s that switch turned on from soft spoken to apex predator that’s helped her maintain a winning culture since her days at Central Dauphin and Maryland. Even now with the Sun, she still sees those on the outside looking beyond her direction.
“We have a veteran group. We have a lot of people who are hungry,” Thomas said. “I think we’ve set the tone on the standard here in Connecticut. People underestimate us, they don’t pick us for playoffs and things like that. But we’ve been a top team for years.”
Primed for the Paris Olympics, Thomas stands among a new top team. Veterans Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart are just a sample of a potent 5-on-5 roster that’s overwhelmingly favored to win an eighth straight gold medal.
Most see Thomas for the mastery of her craft, the type of refinement that named her an ESPY finalist for Best WNBA Player. They see a warrior’s grit, returning nine months after an Achilles tear three years ago.
But through and through, Thomas is the product of her journey. Into her 10th season in the WNBA and on the precipice of her first Olympics, Thomas has validated her credentials every step of the way.
The pipeline from Central Dauphin to the Paris Olympics has been a destiny Thomas manifested by never losing her way.
“I like to always say with everyone I’ve played with in my career through my whole journey, they’ve had an impact on where I am today,” Thomas said. “I think everyone has a piece of their journey (with them). I had great teammates when I was playing at Central Dauphin.”
Bill Wolf can’t help but laugh when memories of Thomas resurface.
“She could do at the high school level what she’s doing now,” he said, chuckling. “She was a walking triple-double.”
Wolf is entering his 15th year coaching Cumberland Valley, where he’s led the Eagles to three state titles. But his initial PIAA trophy came during a five-year tenure at Central Dauphin. His second season with the Rams in 2006-07 was Thomas’ first.
Thomas could’ve played for Bishop McDevitt like her mother, Tina, but instead enrolled at Central Dauphin.
A pass-first, shoot-second player, Thomas still turned heads by averaging 20.5 points per game. Through 106 victories over four years, she ended her varsity career as Central Dauphin’s all-time scoring leader with 2,289 points.
Parade Magazine All-America first team. USA Today All-USA third team. National recognition seeped in as Thomas caught fire. Bound for Paris, she’s yet to be extinguished even with challenges along the way.
“Watching her now, she shoots more with her right hand, but that’s kind of because of the fact that she had a torn labrum in both shoulders,” Wolf said. “It kind of evolved where she felt she had more flexibility in her right, but she was a left-handed shooter but shot both right and left.”
Putting off surgery and playing through torn labrums for years was the initial manifestation of someone who would become the AP Comeback Player of the Year after a 2021 off-season Achilles tear playing in the Czech Republic.
Being ambidextrous in high school gave Thomas options on defenders. She’d go down on breaks, two-on-one and dump the ball to a teammate. Thomas wanted to get everyone around her involved, and did everything to elevate them. A superstar emerging in Pennsylvania’s capital.
“Alyssa could’ve scored another 1,000 points in her high school career had she wanted to,” Wolf said. “She was so unselfish.”
Sometimes, though, Thomas was called on to take center stage. When the game was on the line, the ball was in her hands.
She scored 30 points as a sophomore savant in a memorable second-round upset of top-seeded Downingtown East in the PIAA 4A tournament before immortalizing her Rams.
Thomas flipped her switch in the second half of the PIAA 4A championship against Mt. Lebanon, finishing with 18 points, 18 rebounds and three assists, ripping the rug out from under Mt. Lebanon for a comeback 56-49 victory. Through all the celebration of Central Dauphin’s first PIAA championship, many were eager to connect with Thomas, media members and college coaches alike.
“Some of the recollections of that are just the joy of winning a state title,” Wolf said. “I was just trying to spend some time with the team, with the girls, parents, and administrators, and (then-Penn State coach) Coquese Washington is doing everything she could in order to get this girl up for a camp and visit.”
Washington wasn’t alone.
Brenda Frese had a decision to make.
The Maryland women’s basketball head coach since 2002 recalls wrestling with the choices in front of her in 2008. Would she follow Team USA basketball out of the country? Or should she stay behind and catch Thomas in the last swing of July recruiting?
Frese decided on the latter, forgoing the star-studded names to check out Thomas in action for Central PA Elite AAU. She heard big things about this girl in the region and needed to see what all the hype was about for herself.
“From the moment I watched her in the warmup line, I was just like, ‘This kid is unreal’, the natural female version of LeBron,” Frese said. “When the game unfolded, my husband and I just sat there and marveled at all of the things she was able to do.”
In that moment, Frese knew Thomas was the real deal. Before opening tip, she recognized she was in for a treat. And so too were the Terrapins.
Even before a generational collegiate career that saw her become ACC Rookie of the Year, two-time First-team AP All-American, and three-time ACC Player of the Year, Maryland struck gold in the recruiting phase alone.
That’s because it wasn’t so much about what Thomas wanted. It was what she didn’t want. Sure, there were other contenders – Penn State, Marquette – but it was never about choosing from abundance.
Thomas’ recruiting was brief by design. She wanted her destination squared away without glamor in the spotlight. During an unofficial visit with Maryland, Thomas shared a milkshake with her dad and told him it was the place to be. The next day she committed on the spot. No long, drawn-out process.
“It wasn’t in her personality to have everyone gushing over her,” Frese said.
The rest was history. Thomas went on to score 2,356 points, nab 1,235 rebounds, and record 66 double-doubles – the most all-time at Maryland for both men and women. A true point forward with a deep understanding of all five positions. And above all else, that dependable go-to who can take over any situation.
Frese recalls a time that encapsulates the duality of Thomas’ nature. What Thomas did in uniform speaks for itself. But peeling back the curtain, Frese points to the setup of Thomas’ jersey retirement as a senior. Attempting to put her off the scent of the special accolade, Thomas believed she was in trouble when called into Frese’s office.
Thomas was then handed the envelope and the good news that followed.
“Here I’m sweating, thought I did something wrong,” Thomas told Frese.
Two weeks later, Frese returned from a road trip to find her office filled to the ceiling with balloons, yet enough space for Thomas to be sitting at her desk, the crown jewel of a comical picture. A prank so calculated it took the coordination of Maryland’s staff – from managers to coaches – in order to pull off, Thomas had to be true to self and not let Frese get one over on her.
“That is who she is. She’s a big prankster, and you wouldn’t know it because she’s so quiet and to herself,” Frese said. “I can’t say enough about who she is and to be the greatest player to come through Maryland.”
DeWanna Bonner and Thomas are often referred to as the Connecticut Sun’s parents.
Bonner, 36, and Thomas, 32, are the Sun’s eldest players They’re also engaged, Thomas having popped the question in July of 2023. From logging hotel room time together in the bubble of 2020 – Bonner’s first season with the Sun being the COVID-19 pandemic – to Thomas dropping to one knee under a swath of palm trees in Las Vegas, the two have evolved into a WNBA power couple.
Bonner matches every ounce of Thomas’ drive to be first, to win and leave no doubt. That much was clear on All-Star weekend when Bonner matched up against Thomas directly in a Team WNBA vs Team USA exhibition game. All-Stars vs Olympians, the parents scrapping head-to-head.
