Sun reportedly trading All-Star Alyssa Thomas to Mercury

Emily Adams, Hartford Courant on Jan 28, 2025

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HARTFORD, Conn. — After 11 seasons as one of the faces of the Connecticut Sun, five-time WNBA All-Star Alyssa Thomas is being traded to the Phoenix Mercury, according to multiple reports.

Thomas, an unrestricted free agent in 2025, received a core designation from the Sun on Jan. 17 that gives a team exclusive negotiating rights and guarantees a player at least a one-year super-max contract. Because of the tag, Thomas can only sign with another team via a sign-and-trade agreement that will not be finalized until player contracts can be signed on Feb. 1.

Thomas was selected No. 4 overall by the New York Liberty and traded to the Sun on draft night in 2014. She led the franchise to eight consecutive playoff appearances from 2017-24, but Connecticut could never get over the hump to win a WNBA championship despite two Finals appearances. Thomas was the MVP runner-up in 2023 and finished top 5 in voting each of the last three seasons. She also leaves Connecticut as the only player in WNBA history with more than four career triple-doubles, 15, and she set the single-season record with seven in 2023. Thomas averaged 10.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists last season, leading the Sun to the WNBA semifinals, where they were eliminated by the Minnesota Lynx in a five-game series.

Thomas has been vocal over the last year about Connecticut’s lack of high-level resources for its players, and the franchise continues to fall behind amid the WNBA’s unprecedented growth. When they don’t have access to Mohegan Sun Arena, the Sun practice in the Mohegan Tribe’s community center gymnasium and regularly have to share the space with workout classes or public events. The Sun and the Los Angeles Sparks are the only teams in the league without a dedicated practice facility that have not announced any plan to construct one.

“Being around other players that are in markets that are the (pinnacle) of what you want your organization to be, honestly Connecticut is super behind it when it when it comes to that,” Thomas said after competing for Team USA at the Paris Olympics in August. “I’ve been here 11 years, and yes, we’ve made changes, but a lot of things still have so much room for improvement. ... With how (women’s) basketball is shaping up and less players are going overseas, we need our own practice facility and things like that, because the time is now. People want to come in, stay in the cities and train like that. Not a lot of people want to stay in Connecticut, and we don’t have the facilities that you can train at all year round in that aspect.”

Thomas, who will enter her 12th WNBA season at age 33 in 2025, has played since 2017 with tears in both labrums, and she also suffered an Achilles tear in 2021, so the veteran star has plenty of reasons to seek out better resources in the immediate future. Thomas was in Phoenix when the Mercury unveiled their $100 million state-of-the-art practice facility during 2024 All-Star weekend, and the franchise’s investment has attracted multiple top free agents, including 2021 Finals MVP Kahleah Copper and 2019 WNBA champion Natasha Cloud last season.

While playing in Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 offseason league founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Thomas specifically pointed to the facilities available at the league’s home base in Miami compared to those she was used to with the Sun.

“They have everything you possibly need here, and they don’t really have a lot of those things in Connecticut. I’ve been trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can,” Thomas said on Jan. 9. “The whole thing is impressive. They have top-of-the-line everything, treating us the way we’re supposed to be treated.”

Thomas also has ties to the Mercury via fiancee DeWanna Bonner, who was drafted by Phoenix and won two WNBA titles with the team from 2009-19. Bonner and Thomas, who got engaged in 2023, have spent the last five seasons together in Connecticut, but Bonner is also free to move as an unrestricted free agent in 2025. Bonner averaged a team-high 15 points and six rebounds for the Sun in her 15th WNBA season and earned her sixth career All-Star selection.

Thomas’ departure marks the end of an era in Connecticut with Bonner and three-time All-Star Brionna Jones also exploring free agency in 2025. The team extended a qualifying offer to restricted free agent DiJonai Carrington, but it currently has just four players under contract: Marina Mabrey, Tyasha Harris, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Caitlin Bickle. Former head coach Stephanie White parted ways with the franchise after the 2024 season to take over as coach of the Indiana Fever, bringing assistant coach Austin Kelly and player development coach Keith Porter with her. The Sun went overseas to hire new head coach Rachid Meziane, who has never worked in the WNBA but brings nearly two decades of experience in the Ligue Feminine and with the French and Belgian national teams.