WNBA Makes Announcement on Mercury Star After Valkyries Game
After defeating the Golden State Valkyries Monday, the Phoenix Mercury are riding a three-game win streak heading to Minnesota to take on the first place Lynx before the All-Star break. Behind elite play from All-Star Satou Sabally and newly-acquired forward DeWanna Bonner, the Mercury sit at 15-6, second in league standings.
However, the WNBA is taking notice of Phoenix’s main ball-handler and playmaker during their most recent run of success.
Mercury point guard Alyssa Thomas finished Monday's game against the Valkyries with 17 points and 11 assists–her third double-double in the last five games. She also hit the game-clinching free throws with one second left in regulation at Golden State.
On Tuesday, the league named Thomas Western Conference Player of the Week. Averaging 15.4 points, 9.6 assists, and 7.4 rebounds, Thomas leads the league in assists, ahead of the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, and Natasha Cloud of the New York Liberty.
On July 7, Thomas recorded the league’s third triple-double of the season with a 15 point, 15 assist, and 10 rebound effort in a dominant win against the Dallas Wings. Thomas has the most career triple-doubles in WNBA history, per BetMGM. Sabrina Ionescu is second, with just four in her career.
New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu and Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas have been named the WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for Week 7 of the 2025 season. pic.twitter.com/y5irSFNchi
— WNBA Communications (@WNBAComms) July 15, 2025
The WNBA also announced Ionescu as Eastern Conference Player of the Week opposite Thomas. With 18.8 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game this season, the four-time All-Star is in top form coming off a 2024 WNBA championship with the Liberty.
After the last-second loss, the Valkyries head to Seattle to take on the Storm. In a battle of the league’s two best teams, the Mercury play at Minnesota on Wednesday.
Anwar Stetson is a Multimedia Sports Journalist from Los Angeles, California. He previously worked as a TV News Reporter for KRCR News Channel 7 in Chico, California--covering politics, local news, wildfires, crime, and high school football. As an Assistant Editor for Spectrum Sportsnet: Los Angeles, Anwar worked on award-winning programs Backstage:Lakers and Backstage:Dodgers, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the two franchises' most prominent athletes. Anwar is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he received his Master's Degree in Specialized Journalism (Sports Emphasis) in 2019. He graduated from the University of California, Merced with a B.A. in English in 2016. In addition to Sports Illustrated, Anwar covers high school sports for Prep Network, and the WNBA for The Sporting Tribune.