Why Alyssa Thomas’ Olympic debut for USA Basketball is so special: 'Really proud of her'

PARIS — Alyssa Thomas doesn’t like to spend time thinking about “what if?” 

What if arguably the most versatile, balanced player in the world didn’t have two torn labrums in her shoulders? What if she hadn’t suffered an Achilles injury that kept her out of the last Olympic cycle? What if she’d won 2023 WNBA MVP honors after a career-best season? 

That’s mostly a useless thought exercise for Thomas. Instead, the 32-year-old forward, who will make her Olympic debut for Team USA Monday, is focused on the fact that finally, after years of waiting and wondering, she’s here. 

That she’s set to be a major contributor as the American women go for their eighth consecutive basketball gold over the next few weeks at the 2024 Paris Games makes the waiting that much sweeter. In many ways it feels like it’s happening right on time because Thomas, bafflingly, seems to keep getting better with age. 

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In her 11th season as a pro, all with the Connecticut Sun, Thomas is averaged 11.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 7.6 assists thorugh 24 games. She is second in the league in the last category, and has recorded more triple doubles (12) than anyone else in WNBA history, including four through 24 games this season. That she does it all without shooting much outside 12 feet — her shoulder injuries have forced her into an unconventional shooting motion, and it often looks like she’s heaving a shotput — is that much more impressive. 

“I think this is just normal for me,” Thomas told USA TODAY Sports. “I’ve played this way my whole career, but now more people are paying attention. When you have an injury like I did (with my Achilles) a few years ago, you don’t think you’re going to be the same, but I’ve found a way to keep playing at a high level.” 

Talk about an understatement. 

How Alyssa Thomas' injuries and versatility power her

At 6-foot-2, 203 pounds with terrific court vision and a tremendous basketball IQ, Thomas is often called “a point guard in a forward’s body.” She can play, and defend, multiple positions. That versatility is a perfect fit for USA Basketball coach Cheryl Reeve’s system. 

Jenn Rizzotti, the selection committee chair for this quadrennial, has had a front row seat to Thomas’ dominance on the floor as the president of the Connecticut Sun. 

“How much better would she be if she was totally healthy? It’s funny because I always joke about how I got gipped on height, right?” said the 5-foot-6 Rizzotti, a Hall of Famer. “But people are like, 'Would you have been as tough if you were taller?' Sometimes I think A.T. has a chip on her shoulder because of those injuries and because she’s not as tall.” 

Yes, the injuries. There was the Achilles tear in January 2021, but that's not the career-defining injury most people associate with Thomas.

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It’s impossible to talk with or about Thomas and not bring up the torn labrums. She tore the right one in 2015, her second WNBA season, and sat out 10 games. Less than two years later, while playing overseas, she tore the left one. At that point she decided she’d just play through the pain. 

That Thomas care barely lift her hands above her head isn’t an excuse she’s interested in using, ever. She can still dominate on the court and still detail her Mercedes, her preferred decompression pastime. She’s learned to play with a baseline of discomfort. Asked if there’s anything her shoulders limit her from doing — can she pull something off the highest shelf? — she just shook her head. 

“I wouldn’t be denied anything,” she said. “I’ll find a way to do it.” 

She does plan to get surgery, but not until her career is over (it’s a brutal recovery, she said). For now, if she needs a distraction or a pain-free activity, she’ll head to the beach with her fiancée and Sun teammate DeWanna Bonner. 

It’s true that if Thomas didn’t have the shoulder issues, she’d likely be a 3-point shooter by now. But she’s proven she can stuff a stat sheet without that skill. 

“There’s an edge that she has and it’s like, ‘I’m just gonna be really good at everything else and be impossible to guard anyway. Whether you sag off me or pressure me, I’m gonna have an answer,’” Rizzotti said. “I think she loves getting triple doubles because it shows her balance.” 

How Alyssa Thomas proved her USA Basketball worth

Reeve in particular knew that balance could be a weapon in international play.  

USA Basketball is famously political — like any and all national teams, regardless of sport — and when Thomas first got into WNBA in 2014, she had mostly "walked away from USAB because I didn’t think it was for me.” But Reeve, an assistant coach for the Tokyo Games before taking over for Paris, reached out to Thomas personally and asked her to get involved with training camps, which double as a tryout. She assured Thomas that if it wasn’t going to work out, she wouldn’t waste Thomas’ time. 

But it did work out — maybe even better than anyone could have imagined. Thomas was part of the 2022 FIBA World Cup team that took home gold in Australia, averaging 9.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals in eight games, shooting 64.7% from the field. Given her play there, Thomas’ inclusion on the Olympics roster might not have been a surprise, but it was still rewarding, for both Thomas and those around her. 

“We’re just really proud of her for sticking with the process,” Connecticut coach Stephanie White said. “Cheryl understands the value of a plug-and-play player, someone you can use in multiple positions, who will do the dirty work, doesn’t necessarily have to have the ball in her hands or shoot to be effective, and who can guard the other team’s best player. When you have a team made up of prolific scorers, to have that person who can put it all together and doesn’t care about getting her own shots, that’s huge.” 

Thomas also has tons of international experience, another plus. Although many WNBA players — especially the higher paid ones — have stopped playing overseas in the winter, Thomas has continued. She joked that it’s partially because “I am not the type of person who wants to come into the gym and just work out every day, that repetitiveness is not for me. I need more game action.” She loves, too, that international ball has “taken me a lot of cool places,” including South Korea, China and Turkey.

And now, after years of waiting her turn, it’ll take her to France and the Olympics. 

Email Lindsay Schnell at [email protected] and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell