Alyssa Thomas records 9th career triple-double in another historic outing

Alyssa Thomas made even more WNBA history Tuesday night.

The Connecticut Sun star dropped yet another triple-double in their 79-69 win over the Minnesota Lynx, which marked the ninth of her career and second in as many games.

This is the second time this season that Thomas has put up back-to-back triple-doubles, which is something that hasn’t been done before in the history of the WNBA.

Thomas had her triple-double after just three quarters Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. She finished with 21 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists, and shot 9-of-17 from the field. That made her the first in league history to record at least 20 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game.

Thomas picked up her final assist needed to complete the triple double just before the end of the third quarter when she dropped a perfect leading pass off a jump ball to Tyasha Harris for a layup.

Thomas put up similar numbers in Sunday’s 87-83 loss to the Lynx, too. She had 17 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in that game, which snapped a three-game win streak for the Sun.

Thomas recorded back-to-back triple-doubles for the first time this season in June, and actually recorded three of them within a single week. She now has five this season, which is more than everyone else in the league combined.

Including the playoffs, there have now been just 25 triple-doubles in WNBA history. Thomas has posted the last nine of them.

Thomas, 31, is in her 10th season with the Sun. She entered Tuesday’s game averaging 14.6 points and career-highs of 9.8 rebounds and 8.1 assists. She’s recorded all of her triple-doubles in the past two seasons. Her first two came during the 2022 regular season, and then she put up back-to-back triple-doubles in the WNBA Finals last season — which made her the first to ever have a triple-double in the Finals.

The Sun have won seven of their last nine games and are just half of a game back from the New York Liberty for the best record in the Eastern Conference.