The Untold Strategy Behind Alyssa Thomas’s Record-Breaking WNBA Playmaking Streak

In a league where legends are carved out of sheer talent and grit, Alyssa Thomas is rewriting the playbook—and doing it in her first year with the Phoenix Mercury. Think about the AT-AT from Star Wars: near-indestructible, crushing whatever stands in its path. That’s Alyssa on the court. Not only is she a powerhouse in defense, but her vision and passing game? Absolutely otherworldly. At 12 seasons deep, Thomas isn’t just playing; she’s orchestrating what might be the most jaw-dropping assist season the WNBA has ever seen, leaving defenders chasing ghosts and fans on the edge of their seats. How does a player evolve from a solid passer to the heartbeat of a team’s offense so late in her career? Well, buckle up—this isn’t your average comeback story. LEARN MORE

In her first year with the Phoenix Mercury, Alyssa Thomas is finding her teammates at a potentially record-breaking pace.

In the Star Wars universe, the AT-AT (“All Terrain Armored Transport”) is an impenetrable tank used to crush uprisings and flatten enemies in their tracks.

In the WNBA, AT (Alyssa Thomas) provides a similar fate to those in her way. Her vast skill set makes it grueling work for opposing teams to find a weakness, while her strength and propensity to use it stifle comeback attempts before they can even begin.

Thomas puts teams on their back feet, and if they do finally manage to conjure up an attack, they’re met with, in essence, a wall of lasers.

And while Thomas is happy to grind teams to a pulp, she’s equally contented to tie them in knots with a passing prowess that has gone from good to great to historically remarkable.

In her 12th WNBA season, and her first with the Phoenix Mercury, Thomas is putting together perhaps the best passing season in league history.

Thomas Towers Above the Pack

The WNBA record for assists per game in a full season is held by Courtney Vandersloot, who averaged 9.09 assists in the 2019 season (Vandersloot averaged 9.95 assists in 2020, but played in only 22 games in that shortened season).

Thomas is currently averaging 9.13 assists, which is on pace to eclipse Vandersloot’s mark.

This doesn’t come as a shock in 2025; Thomas has been an elite passer for a while now.

But if you look at the entirety of her career, this potentially historic season didn’t seem possible until a few years ago. Thomas didn’t average over 3.0 assists per game until her fourth WNBA season. She didn’t average over 5.0 assists until 2022, her ninth season.

In the past three years, the tally kept rising, and now a dozen years in, Thomas has fully unleashed her facilitation skills in her first season playing under head coach Nate Tibbetts.

“She is super consistent on her approach,” Tibbetts told reporters Tuesday after the Mercury decimated the Connecticut Sun, with whom Thomas spent her first 11 seasons. “Nothing surprises me … anymore, with her getting a triple-double.”

And it shouldn’t. In that game, Thomas recorded her second-straight triple-double, It was the third time a player recorded consecutive triple-doubles in WNBA history. The first two times were also Alyssa Thomas.

So, how exactly does Thomas continue to raise her game as a passer well over a decade into her run?

The Evolution of AT’s Role

It could be that Thomas hasn’t actually improved that much as a distributor. After all, during her junior season at Maryland, Thomas led the ACC in assists per game.

She’s been a capable passer since the early 2010s. The assists just didn’t necessarily come in waves at the front end of her WNBA tenure.

But after coming back from an Achilles injury that sidelined her most of 2021, Thomas compensated for any rust in her own game by complementing the games of others and it unlocked the superstar in her.

She fully leaned into being the point forward of the Sun and her passing was the key to it all.

Thomas wasn’t going at it alone, though, and played with numerous other players who could facilitate at a high level themselves, most notably Courtney Williams in 2022, Natisha Hiedeman and Tiffany Hayes in 2023, and Marina Mabrey and Tyasha Harris in 2024.

Now in 2025, as her passing is approaching historic levels, AT’s latest evolution is, in large part, happening out of necessity. On this Mercury roster, Thomas is surrounded by a bunch of bucket-getters who are less interested in creating for others.

Satou Sabally (2.3 assists per game) and Kahleah Copper (1.4 APG), the other two components of the Mercury Big 3, aren’t expected to facilitate much at all. Rookie Monique Akoa Makani (2.6 APG) and guard Sami Whitcomb (2.7 APG) have both been nice surprises for the team this year but are more ancillary ball handlers to Thomas.

That leaves most of the passing duties to AT herself. While she’s averaging 9.1 assists, no one else on the team is averaging more than 2.7. As a team, the Mercury are actually a pretty pedestrian passing unit, ranking No. 7 in assists and No. 5 in assist percentage.

This makes what Thomas is doing all the more impressive. She’s not a cog in the machine; she is the machine. She records 44% of her team’s assists, a patently outrageous number and by far the highest rate in the league.

This might just be Tibbetts’ offensive strategy. Last season, before Thomas arrived, the team utilized Natasha Cloud in a similar role. Cloud averaged 6.9 assists and no one else on the team averaged more than 3.4. The Mercury like to have one passing hub surrounded by scorers.

Cloud and Thomas are about as good of hubs as you can ask for.

When one player supplies nearly half of a team’s assists, it could leave that player’s own offensive output vulnerable for a drop. That isn’t the case with Thomas in 2025.

Doing It (Almost) Herself

While all of her assist numbers are peaking in 2025, the percentage of baskets she’s being assisted on is at a career low. Thomas is only being assisted on 49% of her field goals. Prior to this season, that number hadn’t been under 58% since 2017.

Again, this makes sense when you look at the team’s makeup; Thomas does so much of the setup herself that her own offensive output hinges more on self-creation.

Basically, if another member of the Mercury is scoring, they’re most likely doing so on an assist from Thomas. If Thomas is scoring, she’s more than likely doing it unassisted.

But being required to take matters into her own hands hasn’t caused her efficiency to take a hit. Rather, Thomas is having the most efficient offensive season of her career, and there might be one big reason for this: space.

From 2017 to 2024, the Sun never finished in the top five in 3-point attempts, and multiple times finished near the bottom of the league. They weren’t always an abysmal shooting team, but the volume was often so low that teams didn’t feel a need to sell out at the perimeter, making the paint – where Thomas makes her money – particularly cramped.

The 2025 Mercury won’t be confused for the 2017 Golden State Warriors, but their ability to be good enough from deep (fourth in attempts, fifth in makes) gives AT the extra few inches necessary down low – no assist required.

Currently tied for the third-best record in the WNBA, the Mercury have a real shot at their first WNBA title since 2014. To get there, the Alyssa Thomas passing clinic will need to continue at its torrid pace.

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The post How Alyssa Thomas is Passing Her Way to WNBA History appeared first on Opta Analyst.

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