January 30, 2024
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Jasmine Thomas reflects on WNBA career, talks new coaching role with Dallas Wings
By The Next
'Once I started talking to the Wings, it was just too good to pass up'
On today’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, WNBA veteran and newly minted player development coach of the Dallas Wings Jasmine Thomas joins host Howard Megdal to reflect on her career so far. Jasmine Thomas’ 13-year WNBA career spanned four teams and 422 games, during which she was named to five WNBA All-Defensive teams, received two Community Assist Awards, and was named a WNBA All-Star in 2017.
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First, Thomas spoke about her retirement from playing, and how she eventually came to the decision: “As soon as the offseason started, there were some opportunities for me to do things off the court and over the last few seasons, once you hit your 30s, you do start thinking a little bit more about life off the court and life after basketball,” Jasmine Thomas explained. “I wasn’t ready to retire yet, early in my 30s. But those offseasons were used to kind of explore. So I was broadcasting, then I got injured, which really made me put things into perspective.”
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“Once the season ended, I knew I was a free agent and really just had to sit with myself like, what really is exciting me right now, and is it playing some more basketball [to] have an opportunity to keep chasing that one thing that I wanted, which was a championship. Or, was I more excited about some of these off the court opportunities?” Thomas continued. “Once I started talking to the Wings, it was just too good to pass up. It was aligning in every way, every passion that I have, I’m able to still pursue in this position and do it with great people.”
Then, the two discussed Thomas’ on the court experiences, including her All-Star appearance, and how that work has prepared her for her role in Dallas.
“I was the point guard of the team [in Connecticut], but I felt like we were building a culture of people that were gritty, that worked hard, they had something to prove, that wanted to make names for themselves,” Thomas explained of her time with the Suns. “I think me being at the head of that, at the point guard position … I think that was a role that I served very well, and I think that’s something that I embraced.”
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“For the rest of my career, [I] felt like that was a role that I wanted to bring wherever I was … Dallas is extremely talented, they have young talent, they have the opportunity, you see just in one year under [head coach Latricia Trammell] how much they have grown and how much success they’ve had. So for me to be able to come add to that, from a leadership perspective, … just being able to be a resource for them whichever way they need, both on and off the court [sounded] like exactly what I wanted.”
Tune in to hear more from Thomas about her career in basketball and her hopes and goals as she joins the Wings and beyond. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!
