Alyssa Thomas is among the best point guards the WNBA has ever seen. ‘The Engine’ has exceptional court vision that makes her an elite playmaker. However, a play from the Phoenix Mercury star on Saturday has put her in a negative light for Keep The Vision podcast host Maurice. According to the WNBA podcaster, Thomas is stat-padding to take the clear lead against Caitlin Clark in assists this season.

After the Mercury-Toronto Tempo game on Aug. 29, a play from Thomas went viral on social media. During a play in the second quarter, Thomas stole a bad pass from Tempo’s Kiki Rice. Thomas ran ahead with the ball for a fast-break point. While Tempo’s Laura Juškaitė chased her, she was still behind Thomas. The Mercury didn’t attempt the layup and passed the ball to the trailing Maddy Westbeld for a layup. According to Maurice, Thomas passed instead of going for the bucket because she is trying to inflate her assists.

“We got Alyssa Thomas stat padding, trying to beat Caitlin Clark out in the assist race. Listen, let it be legitimate. You don’t have to keep passing up layups to try to outdo Caitlin Clark…” Maurice said on the ‘Keep The Vision’ podcast.

“She clearly could have went and just laid the ball in, but what is she going to do? She’s just dying for an assist, refusing to lay the ball in at this point. You’re so thirsty to outdo Clark,”

Clark and Thomas are currently tied at the top as assist leaders this season, averaging 8.4 per game. In total, Thomas leads the league in assists. Compared to Clark (302), she has 320 assists. However, Clark has played 36 games, two fewer than the Mercury star.

However, this isn’t an old rivalry. Since the 2024 season, Thomas and Clark have been taking the top two spots in assists. In her rookie season, Clark led the league in assists (8.4) ahead of Thomas (7.9). In fact, the 2024 Rookie of the Year set the WNBA record for assists by a rookie at 337, which is also the second on the all-time single-season assists list, just behind none other than Thomas.

For now, Alyssa Thomas leads the list with 357 assists in the 2025 season. Last year, Thomas led the league in the category, averaging 9.1 assists. However, Clark couldn’t be in the running because she picked up a season-ending groin injury after just 13 games, but now that she is back to playing the full season, Clark is right back in the mix.

Clark and Thomas are the premier point guards of their respective teams, but play a very different game. The Mercury star is largely seen as a traditional point guard averaging 14.2 points per game. On Saturday, she scored just 4 points in a 101-69 win.

Clark, on the other hand, has more impact on the best offensive team in the WNBA. Alongside the role of the primary playmaker, she is also the top two-point scoring option for the Fever. Besides leading the league in assists per game alongside Thomas, Clark is also third on the list points per game list this season.

The third-year WNBA player is currently scoring 22.5 points per game and is only behind defending MVP A’ja Wilson (26.0 PPG) and her own teammate Kelsey Mitchell (25.0 PPG), heading into the 2026 FIBA World Cup break.

Traditional point guards don’t look at plays in the same way that scoring playmakers like Clark or Luka Doncic in the NBA would. Such plays on the basketball floor from top playmakers are very frequent. Thomas’ play wasn’t as outrageous. Not just because of how close the defender was to her, but also because she doesn’t prioritize scoring, like Rajon Rondo.