Alyssa Thomas Injury Update
Alyssa Thomas doesn’t do drama for the sake of it, but wow, this latest shoulder scare had half the arena gasping and Twitter scrolling at hyperspeed. Game 4 of the WNBA Finals was already feeling high-stakes, with the Mercury behind in the series, when Thomas went down, clutching her shoulder after a collision with Jewell Loyd right before halftime. I mean, she was literally sprawled out for a few moments; you could hear the tension bubble audibly. It was one of those “oh no, not her!” moments Mercury fans have come to dread. She already had 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists on the board when she limped off. And let’s be real: anytime Alyssa Thomas grabs her shoulder, every WNBA beat writer starts pre-writing two stories just in case.
On Twitter, @BleacherReport shared that Alyssa Thomas was helped to the locker room after suffering an apparent shoulder injury, adding hopes that she’s okay.
A short trip to the locker room, some quick medical huddling, and who’s back on the court to start the second half? Alyssa, visibly taped up, grimacing, eyeing every movement like she’s daring her own shoulder to quit before she does. It’s wild how much she just refuses to sit out. The resilience? Legendary stuff. Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts summed it up: “She’s going to fight. She’s going to give it her all her competitive spirit is unmatched.” Honestly, she’s got the vibe of that friend who shows up in flip-flops during a rainstorm like, no excuses, just “I’m here, what’s next?” She literally has torn labrums in BOTH shoulders and has played through so many aches that injuries almost feel part of her game-night ritual at this point.
On Twitter, @espn reported that Alyssa Thomas appeared to injure her shoulder during an illegal screen by Jewell Loyd.
Now, not to play armchair doctor, but Thomas’s history with shoulder injuries is long and kind of gnarly. She tore her right labrum back in 2015 and missed ten games; by 2017, she’d shredded the left one, too, while playing internationally. Surgery? No thanks. She once compared shoulder surgery’s recovery to an Achilles tear (“harder than Achilles,” she said), so she just powers on with modified shooting one-handed, short-range, all grit, less show. There’s a slightly reckless charm to that, you know? The crowd, whenever she goes down and comes back up, has the energy of an underdog movie montage. You root for her because she keeps making it impossible not to.
Not right now. After Friday night, there’s been no word from trainers or staff that she’s got to sit, and if there’s a planet where Thomas skips an elimination game, we haven’t discovered it yet. Phoenix lost Game 4, the season’s hanging by a thread, and, with Alyssa Thomas, that thread is looking pretty tough. As for fans, we’re probably going to keep one eye out for shoulder tape and the other for another impossible triple-double.
