Alyssa Thomas Elbowed Another Fever Star and Sophie Cunningham Made Phoenix Pay for It

Alyssa Thomas already earned a suspension this year for driving her fist into Caitlin Clark's throat.

Thursday night in Phoenix, the league let her find a new target while Clark watched from the bench.

What Sophie Cunningham did when the buzzer sounded left the whole building stunned.

Alyssa Thomas Catches Lexie Hull With Another Vicious Elbow

Alyssa Thomas walked onto the court Thursday night with something to prove.

She had already put her fist into Caitlin Clark's throat two weeks earlier, and officials missed it completely in the moment.

The WNBA suspended Thomas one game after the fact for what it called "recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area" of Clark – but the damage to the league's credibility was already done.

The contact came during a second-quarter scramble for a loose ball, with Clark down on the floor and Thomas reaching in – exactly the kind of play officials get paid to catch.

Clark left that game with a back injury.

Thomas spent the days that followed playing the victim instead of owning what she did.

Thomas told reporters she and her teammates were being "painted as thugs," pointing to death threats that followed the suspension instead of addressing the play itself.

https://x.com/SnapshotKyle/status/2075419199154078084“>https://x.com/SnapshotKyle/status/2075419199154078084

She never once acknowledged the foul that started the entire firestorm.

Fast forward two weeks, and Thomas was right back at it Thursday, this time against a different Fever player.

Clark sat out on a planned rest day, but that did not stop Thomas from getting physical again.

In the third quarter, Thomas caught Fever guard Lexie Hull square in the face with an elbow.

Hull hit the floor and came up with a bloody nose.

The Refs Reward the Foul and the Fever Win Anyway

The officials reviewed the play and called a shooting foul on Hull.

Somehow, the player who ended up bleeding was ruled the aggressor.

Given Thomas' track record this season, nobody in Indiana was shocked.

This is a woman who drove her fist into the face of the WNBA's biggest draw and needed a league office review just to get suspended one game for it.

None of it mattered in the end, though.

Hull got up, the Fever kept playing, and the game came down to the final possession.

Sophie Cunningham stepped to the free-throw line with the win on the line and drained both shots to seal a 92-89 victory over Alyssa Thomas and the Mercury – the same Thomas who has spent all season taking shots at her friend Caitlin Clark.

Thomas actually balled out on the night, dropping 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting in a losing effort.

Credit belongs where it is due, even to a player Fever fans cannot stand.

But stats do not erase a pattern, and Thomas has now made a habit of leaving Fever players bruised while the league looks the other way.

Cunningham Delivers the Ending Phoenix Never Saw Coming

Cunningham was not done once the final buzzer sounded.

Mercury fans spent the night pointing at her every time she picked up a foul, mocking the viral gesture she made at Phoenix guard DeWanna Bonner back in June.

https://x.com/TaraBull/status/2071176019441021018“>https://x.com/TaraBull/status/2071176019441021018

Cunningham let them have their fun.

Then she turned around after the win and pointed right back into the crowd that tried to troll her.

Her teammates lost it laughing, and the clip spread across social media within minutes.

The moment drew plenty of praise from Fever fans and plenty of grumbling from Mercury loyalists, exactly the split reaction Cunningham has learned to enjoy.

Cunningham did not need a big scoring night to be the story.

She needed one perfectly timed point of the finger delivered with a smile, and she delivered it flawlessly.

https://x.com/SportsCenter/status/2075438047437390028“>https://x.com/SportsCenter/status/2075438047437390028

Cathy Engelbert Goes Silent for the Second Time in Two Weeks

Here is what fires me up about this one: Commissioner Cathy Engelbert still has not figured out that going silent on dirty plays against the Fever only makes the backlash louder.

Thomas herself accused Engelbert of abandoning her and staying silent in the days after the throat-punch suspension, leaving her to face death threats alone.

This time, Engelbert has said nothing again, even after a second Fever player took a shot to the face and the officials rewarded the player who threw it.

That is twice this season Thomas has left a Fever player's face bloodied or bruised, and twice the league needed an after-the-fact review to sort out what should have been obvious live.

Caitlin Clark said it herself after the throat punch – the league needs to do better protecting its players – and Thursday night proved her right all over again, with Engelbert nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Sophie Cunningham keeps handling her business the right way, hitting the free throws that actually decide games and trolling the fans who earned it, all without throwing a single elbow.

Cunningham gave Fever fans a moment worth celebrating.

Cathy Engelbert gave them one more reason not to trust her league.

Sources:

• Zach Dean, "WNBA player who battered Caitlin Clark elbows another Fever star in the face, but there's a catch," OutKick, July 10, 2026.
• Dan Zaksheske, "Mercury's Alyssa Thomas suspended after fist to Caitlin Clark's neck," Fox News, June 2026.
• Alejandro Avila, "Suspended Alyssa Thomas blasts WNBA's silence after Caitlin Clark foul, offers no accountability," OutKick, June 2026.
• Zach Dean, "Caitlin Clark fans unload on WNBA, Alyssa Thomas after violent sequence leaves Fever star battered," OutKick, June 2026.
• OutKick, "Caitlin Clark finally breaks her week-long silence after being punched in the throat by Alyssa Thomas," Fox News, July 2026.