The Athletic shares an anonymous player poll each season that is often pretty fun to sift through, and this year's was no different. Questions was posed to veterans only (sorry, rookies) and range from pondering who the best player in the league is to which city should be picked next for an expansion team. The outlet shared the answers to two of the questions Monday, and to little surprise, Alyssa Thomas was named the league's biggest trash talker.
Thomas won the vote by a landslide, racking up 13 votes to Courtney Williams' 5, Marina Mabrey's 4, and Skylar Diggins' 3. The Athletic noted only one person could be chosen, and several other plays (DiJonai Carrington, Caitlin Clark, Natasha Cloud, Kahleah Copper, Sophie Cunningham, Rhyne Howard, Kelsey Plum, Angel Reese, Satou Sabally) each received one vote.
The Athletic also noted that, hilariously, Diana Taurasi's retirement ahead of this year's season "opened up" the honor for another player — and perhaps it's only appropriate that Thomas now plays for the Mercury, where Taurasi spent her entire career.
Alyssa Thomas can back up her trash talking
When it comes to prolific trash talking, Thomas is the type of player who can back up every word that comes out of her mouth — and then some. As one player put it, "She smiles and talks s—, that’s the crazy part, it’s psycho stuff, she’s crazy, man."
Thomas is having an extraordinary season with the Mercury, and was recently joined by her longtime partner DeWanna Bonner, who signed with the team two weeks after being waived by the Indiana Fever. Thomas is averaging 15.3 points and 9.5 assists for the team so far, and quietly signaling that this year, the MVP race might just be hers to lose.
The most impressive thing about Thomas' performance so far this season might just be that she has been so consistently dominant — she has shown no sign of slowing down or even having reached the height of what she can do (something that might also be true of her elite trash talking skills). The team's recent game against the Lynx was no exception, when Thomas led the team to a 79-71 win without Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper on the floor.
Thomas wrapped up that game with 29 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals, an especially gratifying win for the hooper since she missed the team's previous two losses to Minnesota earlier this season.