Uncasville, Conn. (July 18, 2017) – Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas was selected as a reserve for Verizon WNBA All-Star 2017 on Tuesday evening.
It is the first All-Star selection for Thomas, who will represent the Eastern Conference at the game on July 22 at Key Arena in Seattle. It will be broadcast live on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET. She is joined by teammates Jasmine Thomas and Jonquel Jones, both of whom were named starters for the East on July 11th.
“I’m so happy for AT,” Sun head coach and general manager Curt Miller said. “She put a lot of work into her game in the offseason and continues to get better. But we have taken off this season because of moving her to the four position and being a distributing, facilitating four player. She’s an attacker, she plays downhill and has really allowed our offense to take off and truly become one of the best offenses in the league.”
One of the most versatile forwards in the WNBA, Thomas is in the midst of a career year. She is currently third on the team in scoring at 13.8 points per game, is second with an average of 6.5 rebound per game and is tied for the team lead in assists at 4.9 per contest. She has 94 assists in 19 games, easily eclipsing her previous single-season career-high of 70 in 2016. Currently, she is on pace for 166 assists. In her previous three WNBA seasons, she combined for 154.
Thomas has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week twice in the last month, most recently for the week ending July 9th. That included her 19 point performance, 15 of which came during the second half of Connecticut’s 22 point comeback to defeat the Washington Mystics on July 8th. Earlier that week she tied a franchise record with seven steals in the win at San Antonio (7/5).
“It’s a huge honor,” Thomas said. “Not only are we having team success, we are having individual success as well. I’m extremely happy. Hard work is paying off. When you look at where this program was to where we are right now it just speaks volumes for what these coaches are trying to do here.”
Thomas is joined by Layshia Clarendon, Stefanie Dolson, Candice Dupree, Elizabeth Williams and Allie Quigley as Eastern Conference reserves. Reserves for the Western Conference are Seimone Augustus, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Nneka Ogwumike and Breanna Stewart.
The Sun will be in action next on Wednesday, July 19th when they travel to New York to take on the Liberty at 11 a.m. Connecticut returns home to take on the Chicago Sky on July 25th. Game time is set for 7 p.m. ET.