{"id":774120,"date":"2026-05-05T04:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T04:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/774120\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T04:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T04:33:17","slug":"mercury-news-alyssa-thomas-influence-gets-glowing-review-from-newcomers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/774120\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercury news: Alyssa Thomas&#8217; influence gets glowing review from newcomers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX\u2013 The more that players trickle into the <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/wnba\/phoenix-mercury\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Phoenix Mercury<\/a> roster, the more that <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/alyssa-thomas\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alyssa Thomas<\/a>&#8216;s influence on the organization becomes paramount.<\/p>\n<p>As soon as <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/wnba\/phoenix-mercury\/mercury-news-alyssa-thomas-returning-phoenix-free-agency-wnba-finals-loss\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thomas re-signed with the Mercury<\/a>, the organization knew that another WNBA Finals run was possible. So much so that general manager Nick U&#8217;Ren continues to build the ideal team around her: shooters, playmaking, and versatile positionless players.<\/p>\n<p>Val\u00e9riane Ayayi and Kyara Linskens fit into this equation. The latter is more of a traditional big but is someone who can easily stretch the floor. Meanwhile, Ayayi is seen as a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HaydenCilley\/status\/2051401571456717124?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">playmaking forward<\/a> with a knack for defensive versatility.<\/p>\n<p>The latter played with Thomas on their respective overseas team, ZVVZ USK Prague.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like we are kind of the same player,\u201d Ayayi said following Monday&#8217;s practice regarding playing with Thomas. \u201cThat&#8217;s why we have a lot of fun playing together because we can handle the ball, pass the ball. I might be shooting more than her, but this is kind of the same game that we love to play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Linskens hasn&#8217;t played with Thomas, but understands her magnitude as an opponent. As a member of the Belgium National Team, the 6&#8217;4 shooter was, and is, a problem for opposing defenses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s great. She\u2019s talking; she has high expectations and high standards, which is normal. I\u2019m gonna learn a lot from her, for sure,\u201d Linskens explained.<\/p>\n<p>Rounding the roster out with familiarity can certainly help through the beginning of the new season.<\/p>\n<p>PHOENIX\u2013 The more that players trickle into the Phoenix Mercury roster, the more that Alyssa Thomas&#8217;s influence on the organization becomes paramount.  As soon as Thomas re-signed with the Mercury, the organization knew that another WNBA Finals run was possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX\u2013 The more that players trickle into the Phoenix Mercury roster, the more that Alyssa Thomas&#8216;s influence on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":774121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[4552,1502,8808,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-774120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-alyssa-thomas","9":"tag-phoenix-mercury","10":"tag-reporting","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116520105234004075","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}