Alyssa Thomas is having the biggest year of her life. The WNBA playoffs are next. (2024)

The problem was Thomas was dragging them off the main stretch of the Las Vegas Strip for some appearance set up by her agent. They headed to the JW Marriott northwest of the main Vegas boulevard, 12 miles away. Bonner had so many questions: Where were they going? Why was it so far away? Why did Thomas want Bonner to walk into the venue first?

“The whole time I’m just [losing it] on her,” Bonner said. “… I’m like, ‘Who the hell has an appearance outside in Vegas at the pool?’ This is not making sense to me. And then I saw the flowers and stuff, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m so sorry.’”

Surrounded by palm trees, red roses and candles, Thomas dropped to one knee, broke out a diamond ring and proposed. The Connecticut Sun teammates started dating in 2020 during the pandemic bubble season and had talked about this moment, but Bonner wanted to wait until she was recovered from wrist surgery. She was caught completely off-guard during the midsummer break.

“It was already a big moment just for us to both be at all-star together,” Thomas said. “She had worked so hard in the offseason to even get back to this point. So that was a big deal. And then being engaged, something we talked about for a while, finally happened. To finally find your person like that is a big deal.”

The engagement was just one piece of a wild year for the pair but Thomas in particular. The four-time all-star has taken her game to another level, inserting herself into the WNBA MVP race and keeping the Sun near the top of the league despite an offseason of significant change. As Connecticut opens the WNBA playoffs Wednesday night, Thomas arrives as a do-everything star who is rewriting the record books.

The Sun played in the WNBA Finals last September, losing to the Las Vegas Aces, three games to one. The next day, Thomas headed to Australia to help Team USA win gold at the FIBA World Cup. The University of Maryland graduate then went back to the Czech Republic to play for USK Praha, where she was named first-team all-EuroLeague and defensive player of the year.

It was a pretty good stretch, but the offseason wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Two-time WNBA coach of the year Curt Miller left the Sun for the Los Angeles Sparks, leaving the organization in need of a new coach and general manager. Then 2021 WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones left Connecticut in free agency to join the New York Liberty, and starting guard Courtney Williams, an all-star in 2021, departed for the Chicago Sky.

It was a lot of change, but Thomas, 31, held everything together with her career year. The Sun earned the No. 3 seed in the playoffs with a 27-13 record, and Thomas is one of three players — along with A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas and Breanna Stewart of New York — in the MVP conversation.

“A.T. is doing everything,” Atlanta Dream Coach Tanisha Wright said. “For them to have success, they need her to do everything she’s doing. Rebounding, you’re a scorer, they need her assists, they need her playmaking, they need her to defend, and she’s doing all of that at the highest level. …

“I think she’s always been that person, but it hasn’t been as highlighted because they’ve always had the pieces that they needed. And she kind of just filled the gaps. But now she is everything that they need.”

This season, Thomas set a WNBA record with six triple-doubles, and in June she became the first player in league history to post back-to-back triple-doubles. She led the league with 9.9 rebounds per game, ranked second with 7.9 assists and was 19th with 15.5 points. In August, she became the first player in league history to post 20-plus points, 20-plus rebounds and 10-plus assists in a game.

“There’s really no precedent for what we’re seeing Alyssa Thomas accomplish, and that’s why she will be my vote for MVP,” ESPN analyst LaChina Robinson said. “I always look at the historical perspective, and on a nightly basis she is doing things that have never been done in the history of the league.

“She has a very unique skill set. But different doesn’t mean less valuable. And I feel like voices in and around basketball have somewhat diminished what Alyssa does because it’s different, because it’s focused on defense and rebounding and passing.”

Beyond the numbers, Thomas kept the Sun in contention when it seemed Connecticut was poised to take a step backward, especially after two-time all-star Brionna Jones was lost for the season in June with a torn Achilles’ tendon.

Even Bonner was worried.

“I am the stressed person, the one that has the anxiety, and she’s more cool, calm, collected, for sure,” Bonner said. “That’s our life, no matter if it’s basketball or off the court.”

But Thomas didn’t waver: “Just trying to get her to see, like, we’re going to be fine. We’re still going to win games. We’re going to be competing. It’s going to be good.”

The MVP race has developed into one of the most interesting WNBA arguments in years, and Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo recently broke it down.

“This year’s MVP vote will be a reflection of voter philosophy,” Lobo posted on social media. “1.) Best player in the league 2.) Most outstanding player on the team with the best record 3.) Player most valuable to her team. And you can’t go wrong with any of them.”

Wilson, Stewart and Thomas have valid cases. Wilson is the best player on the top-seeded Aces team that went 34-6 and posted the most wins in WNBA history. She ranks third in the league in points per game (22.8), second in rebounds (9.5) and first in blocks (2.2). Stewart led the second-seeded Liberty to the best record in franchise history (32-8) and ranks second in the league in scoring (23 points per game), third in rebounding (9.3) and fourth in blocks (1.6).

But Robinson pointed out that Wilson and Stewart have more accomplished teammates than Thomas does, and that sets her apart.

“That’s another reason why I give Alyssa the nod for MVP. When you look at A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, [their teams] are loaded with talent on paper,” Robinson said. “Everyone knows when you are a better team, when you’re playing with better, more proven teammates that have won championships, that have done it consistently at the highest level, that have been depended on in the higher levels of basketball, it’s going to make you better.”

Bonner has long been imploring Thomas to speak up for herself. She’s the more boisterous of the duo and wants Thomas to take things up a notch. Wilson and Stewart have MVP trophies and are household names playing in key WNBA markets. Thomas has ground to make up, and Bonner thinks her prodding is taking hold.

“I think the biggest thing is I’m putting up something that has never been seen before,” Thomas said. “… We live in an era now where it’s so much focused on scoring that I think we lose sight of the all-around game and how impressive it is. You watch the NBA game, and of course they’re putting up huge numbers every night. But [Denver Nuggets star Nikola] Jokic is essentially averaging a triple-double at his position, at his size. It’s super impressive to watch.”

Sun Coach Stephanie White has everything flow through Thomas the way the Nuggets do with Jokic. Connecticut does not have a true point guard, so Thomas often brings the ball up the court. Once Jones went down, Thomas started logging additional minutes in the post. Her fingerprints are all over every game, and that’s without her being a three-point threat after a pair of torn labrums forced the 6-foot-2 Thomas to adjust her game.

White said she did not originally envision Thomas in a point forward role, where she initiates the offense regularly. But now Thomas has the ball in her hands with shooters spacing the floor and a basketball IQ that guides her decisions.

“Originally it was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to put her in the middle of the floor and we’re going to allow her to go to work,’” White said. “And now just seeing those things, her understanding of the game, seeing her ability to put people in spots, she has a point guard mentality. She’s got a coach’s mind. So being able to put her in those situations, I think, has allowed us to open up our options a lot more.”

Washington Mystics forward Elena Delle Donne has a pair of MVP trophies in her possession and has regularly faced all three candidates for the 2023 award. She pointed to the value that each has had on her roster and how that has influenced winning.

“You take A.T. off her team, I don’t even know if they’re in the playoffs,” Delle Donne said of Thomas. “She’s had one hell of a season. But then you got A’ja and Stewie putting up, like, ridiculous numbers, too. It’s tough, but A.T. has had a crazy season.”

Miller, Thomas’s former coach, isn’t the least bit surprised. He brought up Thomas’s basketball mind and a determination he said makes her a “true warrior and competitor.” When it comes to her playmaking, Miller said, Thomas should be mentioned in the same breath as elite point guards Chelsea Gray and Courtney Vandersloot.

“The term ‘point forward’ gets used a lot,” Miller said. “No, she is a true point guard that just happens to be in a forward body. . . . She is as good of a facilitator, period, as there is in this league. And, understandably, they’re putting the ball in her hands in the new system. She’s the one that allows them to flourish every night.”

Thomas has been flourishing for a year now — from the WNBA Finals to Team USA to the EuroLeague to her engagement. But she hasn’t really taken the time to reflect because there’s still business to take care of. The Sun hosts the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday to start a best-of-three first-round series.

“For me, it’s just staying present and focusing on what my team is doing and just building what we have,” Thomas said. “Of course, if I were to get [the MVP award], it’s a huge honor … but it doesn’t change what I’m trying to do out there.”