The May 25 game between the Washington Mystics and Phoenix Mercury did not come without extracurricular activity, especially between veteran Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas and Mystics rookie forward Kiki Iriafen.
These two were matched up for most of the game (which the Mercury ended up winning 68-62), and both players also produced solid performances. Thomas finished with 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists on 34 minutes played, while Iriafen tallied 11 points (despite only taking four field goal attempts) to go along with 13 rebounds in 26 minutes played.
However, the biggest story of this matchup was the physical play between them that led to free throws for both teams. The example of this that went most viral was Iriafen being called for a technical foul after seemingly talking trash to Thomas after making a layup on her during the fourth quarter.
But a recent fan video has since surfaced on social media, showing what likely led to Iriafen getting chirpy with Thomas.
In the third quarter, Thomas was called for a flagrant foul when she and Iriafen were preparing to go after a rebound during a free throw. As the shot went up, Thomas struck Iriafen in the throat before the two jockeyed for position. This led to Thomas receiving a flagrant foul call.
X user @kfpmixx_ posted a video of Thomas’ throat strike on Iriafen after a screenshot of Iriafen trash-talking Thomas with the caption, “The flagrant that led to this response”.
Thomas has a history of being harsh on rookies, as she choke-slammed Chicago Sky star Angel Reese during Reese’s rookie 2024 season, which led to Thomas getting ejected from that game.
Thomas clearly isn’t keen to let rookies get the upper hand on her.
