Veteran point guard Jasmine Thomas announced her retirement from the WNBA on Thursday, bringing her 13-year career to a close. The former All-Star, who played for the Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Connecticut Sun, and Los Angeles Sparks, broke the news herself in a statement on social media.
"Came a long way from the 9-year-old girl that picked up basketball for fun to make friends," Thomas wrote. "I feel so blessed to have had such a long and successful career on the court. I'm grateful for how my journey has shaped me as a person, I wouldn't change it for anything. To my family, friends, teammates, coaches, staff, venue personnel, and fans around the world — thank you for being a huge part of an incredible experience of a lifetime."
What a time!
— WNBA (@WNBA) January 18, 2024
Congrats on an illustrious career @jaszthomas 💐 pic.twitter.com/dlY0JisTSN
After a successful collegiate career at Duke, Thomas was the No. 12 overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft. Though she was drafted by the Seattle Storm, she was traded to the Mystics before her rookie season began. Thomas spent two seasons with the Mystics before she was traded again, this time to the Dream.
In Atlanta, she got the first taste of playoff disappointment that would unfortunately come to characterize her career when the Dream made it to the 2013 WNBA Finals only to get swept by the Minnesota Lynx.
Come 2015, Thomas was on the move again when the Dream traded her to the Sun, beginning what would be the most successful period of her career. During her eight seasons in Connecticut, Thomas made her only All-Star appearance in 2017 and all five of her All-Defensive Teams.
Along the way, she helped form the spine of a Sun group that emerged as a perennial powerhouse. From 2017-2022, the Sun won at least 20 games in every season save for the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, made at least the semifinals of the playoffs four times, and went to the Finals twice. Every time, however, the Sun fell short, losing to the Mystics in the 2019 Finals and the Las Vegas Aces in the 2022 Finals. Thomas did not play in the 2022 playoffs after tearing her ACL early that summer.
Ahead of the 2023 season, Thomas followed former Sun head coach Curt Miller to the Los Angeles Sparks shortly after he was hired as the team's new coach. Though she appeared in 32 games for the Sparks, she played sparingly as the team narrowly missed out on the playoffs.
For her career, Thomas appeared in 390 regular season games and averaged nine points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and one steal.
