Alyssa Thomas Reaches Another Key Milestone

Alyssa Thomas has hit yet another career milestone and is currently the only forward in the top 10 for career assists.

Jul 25, 2025; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas (25) celebrates with head coach Nate Tibbets and forward DeWanna Bonner (14) after scoring in the first quarter against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

In Friday night's loss to the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas hit yet another career milestone. Her 20-point, 13-rebound, eight assist performance brought her career assist total u p to 1,641, past two-time MVP Candace Parker for 10th all-time. She also hit 18th all-time in steals, passing Diana Taurasi.

The top-10 list currently features four active players -- Chelsea Gray of the Las Vegas Aces, Natasha Cloud of the New York Liberty, the Seattle Storm's Skylar Diggins, and Thomas -- with Gray leading the four. She's in sixth place with 1,738, 91 dimes ahead of Diggins and Cloud, who are tied for eight.

Just behind them is Thomas, the only player among the top 10 who plays predominantly as a forward. All nine of the others are guards. It's a testament to her versatility and unique skill set. She can be seen guarding opposing power forwards and centers on one end of the floor before racing up the court with the ball in her hands and spraying pinpoint passes to shooters on the perimeter.

She's a savvy pick-and-roll ballhandler in the body of a bruising power forward and still one of the fastest up the floor in transition at age 33. There's a lot of separation between the top five and the rest of the top 10, but all four active players have a good shot at climbing the rankings, especially with WNBA seasons featuring more games than ever before.

It's fitting that Candace Parker is the player she passed on the list and they share plenty of similarities. They're both primary ballhandlers with the size of a forward (Parker stood 6'4") who can guard multiple positions on defense while running their team's offense on the other end, and they are both absolute terrors on the fast break.

Parker was more gifted as a scorer and had deeper shooting range, but Thomas's career assists average is nearly one per game higher than Parker's and she may have a few more seasons to open up more distance between their career totals.

In addition to Thomas, who currently leads the Mercury (and the entire WNBA) in assists per game, Diggins and Cloud have also played for Phoenix, as has Taurasi, who is fourth all-time in assists. The Mercury have had plenty of iconic players, whether at guard, forward, or center, but there's only been one player like Alyssa Thomas.

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