Sam Thomas (basketball)

Sam Thomas (born June 14, 1999) is an American professional basketball player. She was undrafted in the 2022 WNBA Draft, but made the Phoenix Mercury roster in 2022. She played college basketball at Arizona.

Sam Thomas
Personal information
Born (1999-06-14) June 14, 1999
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Career information
High schoolCentennial
(Las Vegas, Nevada)
College
WNBA draft2022: undrafted
Playing career2022–present
PositionGuard/forward
Number14
Career history
2022-2023Phoenix Mercury
Career highlights and awards
  • 2× All-Pac-12 Team (2021, 2022)
  • 2× All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention (2020, 2022)
  • 3× Pac-12 All Defense (2020, 2021, 2022)
  • Pac-12 All-Freshman (2018)

College career

Thomas committed to Arizona career after being ranked 92nd overall by ESPN HoopGurlz for the 2017 Class. She was the highest rated Wildcat recruit coming in from the class.[1] During her freshman season, Thomas started all 30 games for the Wildcats and scored the 10th most points in Arizona history by a freshman with 306. Thomas earned the Pac-12 All-Freshman team for her year.[2]

Her sophomore season, Thomas began to standout more for her defensive efforts. She led the Wildcat team in blocks and was second in steals. She again started every single game, scored 9.1 points, and was very consistent with the ball - only having 29 turnovers for the entire year.[3] During her junior season, Thomas earned Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 and was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.[4] Thomas scored a career-high 31 points, including going 13-for-13 from the free line on February 21, 2020, against Utah.[5]

During her senior season, Thomas helped the Wildcats earn a trip to the Women's Final Four. While at the Final Four, Thomas was awarded the Elite 90 Award - the player with the best GPA of any student-athlete at the Final Four.[6] She led the team in blocks and was second on the team in steals. Thomas came back for her extra-COVID year and helped guide the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament. She became the first player in program history to repeat as a CoSIDA Academic All-American.[7] She made the Pac-12 All-Defensive again for the third straight year and was a Pac-12 Honorable Mention selection.[8]

College statistics

[9]

Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2017–18 Arizona 30 306 .418 .369 .774 7.0 1.4 1.5 1.3 10.2
2018–19 Arizona 37 337 .405 .327 .765 3.1 1.4 1.6 1.4 9.1
2019–20 Arizona 31 296 .432 .378 .795 3.4 2.2 1.7 1.5 9.5
2020–21 Arizona 27 196 .405 .386 .833 3.4 1.5 2.3 1.2 7.3
2021–22 Arizona 29 247 .434 .417 .761 3.0 2.1 1.5 1.0 8.5
Career 154 1382 .418 .372 .782 4.1 1.7 1.7 1.3 9.0

Professional career

Phoenix Mercury

Thomas went undrafted in the 2022 WNBA draft, but signed a training camp contract with the Phoenix Mercury.[10] Sam made the Opening Night roster for the 2022 season with the Mercury.[11]

Thomas went through training camp with the Mercury for the 2023 season, but was ultimately waived at the end of camp and did not make the Opening Night roster.[12] Thomas returned to the Mercury on June 21, 2023, when she signed a Hardship Contract with them.[13] Thomas was released from the Hardship Contract a few days later.

WNBA career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2022 Phoenix 2404.9.211.0671.0000.20.30.30.10.20.4
Career 1 year, 1 team 2404.9.211.0671.0000.20.30.30.10.20.4

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2022 Phoenix 207.0.500.500.0000.00.00.50.00.01.5
Career 1 year, 1 team 207.0.500.500.0000.00.00.50.00.01.5

References
  1. "2017 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings - espnW 100". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  2. "2017-18 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Media Awards Announced". pac-12.com. Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  3. "Sam Thomas". arizonawildcats.com. Arizona Athletics. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  4. "2019-20 Annual Pac-12 Women's Basketball Conference Honors Announced". pac-12.com. Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  5. "No. 11 Arizona's Sam Thomas discusses her career night against Utah". yahoo.com. Yahoo. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  6. NCAA. "With a 3.97 GPA in psychology, Sam Thomas of @ArizonaWBB is the 2021 #Elite90 award winner for DI Women's Basketball!". twitter.com. Twitter. Retrieved May 7, 2022.[self-published]
  7. "Sam Thomas Named First Team Academic All-American". pac-12.com. Arizona Wildcat Athletics. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  8. "2021-22 Pac-12 Women's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva". pac-12.com. Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  9. "Sam Thomas Stats". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  10. Bookspan, Asher. "Arizona WBB's Sam Thomas signs training camp contract with the Phoenix Mercury". wildcat.arizona.edu. The Daily Wildcat. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  11. Doss, K. "Former Arizona forward Sam Thomas makes Phoenix Mercury's final roster". azdesertswarm.com. SB Nation. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  12. @phoenixmercury (May 18, 2023). "The Phoenix Mercury has waived Sam Thomas and Jennie Simms" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. @phoenixmercury (June 21, 2023). "The Phoenix Mercury have signed forward Sam Thomas to an injury replacement contract ahead of today's matchup against the Las Vegas Aces" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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