The 2023 WNBA season is roughly at the three-quarter point of the largest schedule in league history. With about a month to go in the regular season, the W is hotly contested; teams are trying to rise up and stake their claim to move up the rungs into playoff contention. The top-flight contenders are duking it out in late-season tests against one another, honing themselves and collecting data for the playoffs.

The echoing question is: Who stands out on the Most Valuable Player Ladder this far into the season?

Each week for the remainder of the regular season, catch up on the MVP race with Nekias Duncan and Mark Schindler as they release their Top 5 MVP Ladder while highlighting one candidate’s individual case.

1. A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces (22.2 ppg/9.7 rpg/1.7 apg/4.8 stocks per game)
2. Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun (13.6 ppg/11.1 rpg/8.6 apg/2.4 stocks per game)
3. Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty (21.9 ppg/8 rpg/2.9 apg/3 stocks per game)
4. Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx (23 ppg/8.8 rpg/2.2 apg/2.6 stocks per game)
5. Satou Sabally, Dallas Wings (18.9 ppg/8 rpg/5.4 apg/2.6 stocks per game)

***Stats listed are since the All-Star Game***

Alyssa Thomas is our spotlight player this week, one of a handful making history this season, but in her own specific way.

Thomas put up the first 20-20-10 stat line this past week in a win over the Minnesota Lynx, the 9th triple-double of her career. 

It’s easy to lose sight of how absurd that is if you get caught up in the novelty of a triple-double. There’s a continual sense this season of “she’s narrowing in on it, will she get it”; in watching for the result, you can get caught up in the whole forest (triple-double), when what sets AT apart is the trees (per possession impact).

Alyssa Thomas embodies The Process. Every situation is defined by making the right play for the Sun on either end.

Connecticut runs a spread-out read-and-react system, predicated less upon play calls, and more on taking what the defense gives you and turning it against them. There is not a player built like Thomas who can handle that sort of offense in the way she does, which is what makes the Sun such a fascinating team.

She has forward size, often playing the 5 for the downsized Sun. She has the physicality and strength of a center. The speed and quickness of a point guard. She can screen and post up like a power forward while blending that with immaculate passing vision and a great ability to deliver the ball where she wants and needs to.

Alyssa Thomas is not a 3-level scorer, but she has a 3-level impact through the way she processes, reads, and runs the game as the hub of the Sun’s offense. Hard deny a dribble handoff (DHO) run by Thomas in an empty corner, and she’s pivoting quickly to drive the lane herself. She excels in quick pitch actions and has gotten more juice as a roller for the Sun as the year’s gone on. 

While there is an inherent upper limit to Thomas’ scoring and efficiency, the only real knock on her when splitting hairs for MVP, there has never really been a player to do what she’s doing in the way she’s doing it with the effectiveness she provides. 

That’s without mentioning her defensive exploits, where I would say she’s the pound-for-pound best defensive player in the league. 

Connecticut thrives when their defensive activity can dictate that game, 2nd in the league in defensive rating behind the Aces, and tied for first in forced turnover rate. Playing with an undersized group since Brionna Jones’ injury, the Sun rely on putting pressure on the ball while rotating crisply behind it.

Thomas is simultaneously the tip of the spear. Incredible at hedging out on ball screens, and has the largest margin for error in the game, capable of covering the court multiple times in a possession to stifle actions. 

There is often an idea brought up in modern basketball of being able to “guard 1-5,” and that usually refers to a player who has the skillset and versatility to occasionally do that; Alyssa Thomas can do that nearly every possession.

She’s versatile, she’s dominant, she’s under-recognized as one of the best passers in basketball, and she’s putting together a historic season worthy of MVP consideration, if not the award entirely.

WNBA reporters Mark Schindler writes columns on WNBA.com throughout the season and can be reached on Twitter at @MG_Schindler. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the WNBA or its clubs.