Becky Hammon's 'Professional Football' Claim About Mercury Star Raises Eyebrows
The Las Vegas Aces managed to secure a victory against the Phoenix Mercury in Game 1 of the 2025 WNBA Finals on October 3 by the skin of their teeth.
The Aces were winning by one point when Mercury star Alyssa Thomas (who finished 3rd in 2025 WNBA MVP voting) was fouled and sent to the free throw line with 24.6 seconds left in the game. Thomas isn't a good free throw shooter, which is proven by her career 65.1% free throw percentage (and 69% in her postseason career).
And thankfully for Las Vegas, Thomas missed both of her free throws, which ultimately allowed them to hang on to an 89-86 win on their home court. While Thomas is surely lamenting these misses in crunch time, the bottom line is that Phoenix would not have been in the game in the first place if not for the performance Thomas had put on to that point.
Thomas finished Friday's defeat with 15 points (on 7 of 10 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists in 38 minutes played. While her going 1 of 4 on free throws and missing those last two are what will be remembered most, Aces coach Becky Hammon is surely lamenting the way Thomas will bounce back during Sunday's Game 2 contest.
Becky Hammon Makes Strong Claim About Alyssa Thomas
Hammon spoke with the media during her team's shootaround on October 4. And when she was asked how hard it is to simulate Thomas in practices, she offered an interesting response.
"I think Alyssa Thomas is probably the one player in the league that could switch and play professional football," Hammon said, per an X post from Desert Wave Media.
Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon on how hard it is to simulate Alyssa Thomas in practices.
— Desert Wave Media (@DesertWaveCo) October 4, 2025
“I think Alyssa Thomas is probably the one player in the league that could switch and play professional football.
“She’s just a different animal in our league.”#WNBA pic.twitter.com/s7oFmcPwAp
Hammon then added, "I can't really simulate her. We try to get the guys to do stuff, but she’s just a different animal in our league. There's nobody like her, who does what she does and how she does it."
When Hammon was asked about the animal she'd compare Thomas to, she said, "I haven't thought about her animal traits yet... Um, a bull? A bull. She's tough. She's just tough. She's hard-nosed. I think she's hard to officiate; she's hard to guard. Because she presents different problems, and she just has a natural physicality, very much, to her. So I'll have to think about her animal comparison."
Hammon's Aces squad will try to be the matadors during Sunday's game.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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