Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Apr 29, 2026; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts with forward Alyssa Thomas (25) against Japan during a WNBA preseason game at Mortgage Matchup Center
The Phoenix Mercury picked up an 89-80 victory over the Toronto Tempo on Saturday despite being without the services of star player Alyssa Thomas.
Thomas was serving a one-game suspension handed down by the WNBA after her punch to the throat of Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark.
Despite the league determining that Thomas “recklessly made contact with her fist to the throat area of Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts maintains that his star player did nothing wrong and should not have been suspended.
Nate Tibbetts Thinks The WNBA Unfairly Punished Alyssa Thomas
“I’d like to hit on my disappointment in the suspension process by our league and our leaders in the W. This was not a thorough investigation in my opinion,” Tibbetts said Saturday after his team’s victory.
He then noted that nobody from the WNBA reached out to him, Thomas, or any member of the team’s security to better understand the situation from their perspective, although it’s hard to understand what perspective would’ve made Thomas putting her fist into Clark’s throat any more reasonable.
“The people in this league know who AT is,” Tibbetts added. “She’s a competitor, she’s a winner, and she’s tough. The one thing she is not is cheap.”
Tibbetts is correct. Thomas is one of the league’s toughest competitors and a potential future Hall of Famer. She plays a physical style that can be tough for opposing players to deal with
BUT, Thomas also has a history of plays that are at best questionable and at worst, dirty.
Thomas’s teammates, including star guard Kahleah Copper, also came to her defense.
“We’re with AT,” she said. “We just wish it would have been handled the right way. We wish somebody also called her and checked on her and made sure that she was okay. I don’t think it played out how it should have professionally.”
I’m not sure why the league would need to call and check on a 34-year-old, 12-year WNBA veteran over a one-game suspension. But hey, that’s Copper’s story, and she’s sticking to it.
The reality is that the play and suspension won’t define Thomas’s legacy in any meaningful way. But it’s pretty wild to see her coach and teammates just act like it never it happened.