Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas was a shoe-in to make the 2024 Paris Olympic team after her MVP runner-up season last year, but Thomas was hardly on USA Basketball’s radar until after the Tokyo Games in 2021. When she took the court for Team USA at the 2022 FIBA World Cup in Sydney, Australia it was her first time donning the national team jersey in almost a decade.The World Cup tipped off just four days after Thomas and the Sun suffered a heartbreaking 3-1 series loss to the Las Vegas Aces in the 2022 WNBA Finals, and she said she considered opting out of the tournament amid the rapid turnaround. But even while competing alongside three players that had just beaten her in the Finals, Aces stars A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum, Thomas said bringing home a gold medal helped heal her lingering disappointment from the WNBA season.“We had just lost in the Finals and then the next day I was off to Australia, so it was a great page turner,” Thomas said. “After losing in the Finals, I was hesitant about going. I was upset about losing, but I ended up having a lot of fun. I got to play with some of the best players in the league, so it was just a lot of fun and I’m just looking forward to what we’re going to be able to do in Paris.”
The Engine is off to Paris ✈️
Congrats to Alyssa Thomas for making the 2024 USA Basketball Women’s National Team! pic.twitter.com/yGF12eHvYp
— Connecticut Sun (@ConnecticutSun) June 11, 2024Prior to the World Cup, Thomas had never appeared in international competition for USA Basketball and had not even participated in a national team camp since 2013. The program often held its camps during the precious downtime between the WNBA and overseas seasons, something Thomas wasn’t willing to sacrifice for the uncertainty of a tryout — especially when she didn’t feel like Team USA’s system catered to her style of play. That changed when Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve took over.Thomas was barely recovered from a ruptured Achilles she suffered in January 2021, and she had never considered the Olympics as a serious option until Reeve called in December 2021 with her pitch. Reeve had just been named the head coach of Team USA for the upcoming Olympic cycle after South Carolina coach Dawn Staley led the squad to a seventh consecutive gold medal at the Tokyo Games, and Reeve made it clear that she saw Thomas as an essential piece for her vision of USA Basketball’s future.“She asked me why I was away from USA Basketball, and I just kind of explained to her that I’d rather just have had my breaks during those times,” Thomas said. “She kind of touched base on what she was looking for in this team, and she said she would be honest with me if it wasn’t gonna work out, but she was very adamant about me being on this team and trying out. I trusted what she had to say and the goal of this team. I think early on at Worlds, you could see that defense was an emphasis, and I could impact it that way.”Mark Baker/APUnited States’ Alyssa Thomas runs around Serbia’s Jovana Nogic to score a goal during their quarterfinal game at the women’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)At the 2022 World Cup, Thomas was an immediate superstar. She led Team USA in rebounds and assists averaging seven boards and 4.3 assists, plus 9.9 points per game, also earning Best Defensive Player of the tournament. She was one of three Americans selected to the all-tournament team alongside Wilson and UConn legend Breanna Stewart, both two-time WNBA MVPs.Thomas is having another elite start to the WNBA season in 2024 averaging 12.8 points, 10. 1 rebounds and 8.8 assists shooting above 50% from the field. But Sun coach Stephanie White, who was a court coach for the national team’s November training camp, pointed to Thomas’s hustle as her greatest asset for the 2024 Olympic team.“You look at what she does from a stat sheet perspective, and she pretty much does everything, but it’s also all the little things she does, whether that’s one-on-one defensive stops, getting a critical rebound in a big moment, making an extra pass, initiating offense,” White said. “We track our screen assists, and she gets a number for us every ball game. She just makes winning plays, and some show up in the stat sheet and some don’t. I think she’s going to be a really critical glue piece for Team USA.”
