Mercury trade for Suns’ star Alyssa Thomas

Philippou took to X Tuesday announcing Thomas will be leaving Connecticut for the first time in her career. Thomas spent 11 seasons with the Sun, solidifying herself as one of the greatest players in the franchise’s history.

The Sun selected Thomas as the fourth overall selection of the 2014 WNBA Draft. She instantly took over.

Thomas was named to the 2014 All-Rookie team, tipping off the beginning of a heavily decorated career. In her 11 seasons, the forward made five All-Star teams, was selected to six All-Defensive squads (2 First Team, 4 Second Team) and three All-WNBA teams. She earned back-to-back first team recognition in 2023 and 2024. She was The W’s leader in steals in 2020 (42) and the rebounding champion in 2023 (394). The veteran earned her second first team all-league last year, averaging 10.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 1.6 steals.

The Mercury make one of the biggest moves in free agency thus far as they await to see if they’ll take one of the biggest losses.

Veteran center Brittney Griner announced she will be testing the market for the first time in her career after 11 seasons in Phoenix. Losing Griner will be a huge loss for Phoenix, as she’s still one of the most dominating bigs in the game.

If Griner does decide to leave, at least the Mercury will have veteran leadership with all-world talent stepping in.