Tina Marie Thompson (born February 10, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Most recently, she served as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team from 2018 to 2022; she was subsequently hired by the Portland Trail Blazers as a team scout later in 2022. Thompson was inducted into both the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
The first college draft pick in WNBA history, Thompson was selected first by the Houston Comets. She helped lead the Comets to four consecutive WNBA Championships in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. She won two Olympic gold medals and made nine WNBA All-Star Game appearances. Until 2017, she was the WNBA's all-time leading scorer and, as of , she ranks fourth in WNBA history.
Early life and college
Thompson was born in Los Angeles, California. She grew up playing basketball with her brother TJ and his friends at Robertson Park in West Los Angeles, California. She recorded more than 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in her high school career at Morningside High School in Inglewood, California, where she also played volleyball. She then went on to play basketball at the University of Southern California, where she graduated in 1997.
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Team
!GP
!Points
!FG%
!3P%
!FT%
!RPG
!APG
!SPG
!BPG
!PPG
|-
|1993-94
|USC
|30
|427
|49.9%
|35.7%
|64.1%
|10.5
|0.8
|1.3
|0.7
|14.2
|-
|1994-95
|USC
|28
|545
|51.9%
|20.6%
|73.1%
|10.5
|0.9
|1.3
|0.9
|19.5
|-
|1995-96
|USC
|27
|623
|50.7%
|31.6%
|74.2%
|9.3
|1.6
|1.4
|1.1
|23.1
|-
|1996-97
|USC
|29
|653
|49.9%
|33.9%
|78.1%
|10.6
|2.0
|1.9
|1.0
|22.5
|-
|Career
|
|114
|2248
|50.6%
|31.7%
|73.1%
|10.2
|1.3
|1.5
|0.9
|19.7
|}
USA Basketball
Thompson represented the US at the 1995 World University Games held in Fukuoka, Japan, in August and September 1995. The team had a record of 5–1, securing the silver medal. The USA team won early and reached a record of 5–0 when the USA beat Yugoslavia. In the semi-final game, the USA faced Russia. The team was behind much of the first half but tied the game at the half. The USA broke the game open in the second half and won, 101–74. The gold medal match was against unbeaten Italy. The Italian team started strong, scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the contest. Sylvia Crawley scored eight consecutive points to end the first half, but that left the USA nine points behind. The USA took a small lead in the second half, but the team from Italy responded with a ten-point run, and won the game and the gold medal by a score of 73–65. Thompson averaged 9.9 points per game and was second on the team with 7.3 rebounds per game.
On the Comets, she was a member of a dynasty along with Sheryl Swoopes and Cynthia Cooper that won four consecutive WNBA championships from 1997 to 2000. During her stint with the Comets, Thompson had won All-Star MVP honors at the 2000 WNBA All-Star Game, led all Western Conference players in All-Star voting in 2001, had been named to the All-WNBA First Team three times (1997, 1998, 2004) and All-WNBA Second Team four times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002).
Prior to the 2005 season, Thompson had given birth to Dyllan Thompson-Jones, her first child in May, with then NBA player Damon Jones being the biological father; she resumed playing with the Comets two months later. Thompson, Leslie and Parker led the Sparks to the playoffs with an 18–16 record. In the playoffs, Thompson was one win away from her fifth Finals appearance but the Sparks lost 2–1 in the second round to the Phoenix Mercury, who were the champions that year. During the following season in August, Thompson became the WNBA's all-time leading scorer, passing Lisa Leslie during a regular-season game loss to the San Antonio Silver Stars in which she scored 23 points. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the top 15 players in the fifteen-year history of the WNBA.
An unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2011 season, Thompson signed with the Seattle Storm on February 27, 2012, to fill gaps left by Australia's Lauren Jackson, concurrent her commitment to the Australian national team for the 2012 Olympics, and small forward Swin Cash, who was traded to the Chicago Sky as part of a package deal for the second-overall pick in the 2012 WNBA draft.
On May 31, 2013, Thompson announced that she would retire from the WNBA at the end of the 2013 season.
During the 2013 season, the 38-year-old Thompson was a starter for the Storm and had averaged 14.1 ppg. She was also selected to the 2013 WNBA All-Star Game to replace an injured Brittney Griner. It was her ninth career WNBA All-Star Game appearance, the second-most in WNBA history, and it also made her the first and only player in WNBA history to be named an All-Star in three different decades.
On August 17, 2013, Thompson became the first WNBA player to have 7,000 points and 3,000 rebounds following a victory against the Indiana Fever where she scored 23 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
September 14, 2013, marked the final regular-season game of Thompson's career which resulted in a victory over the Tulsa Shock. Following the game, an almost hour-long retirement ceremony took place in her honor. Her Storm teammates all wore a number 7 jersey either in a Comets or Storm variant. Despite the absence of Sue Bird who sat out the whole season while recovering from knee surgery, the Storm made the playoffs with the number 4 seed in the Western Conference.
Thompson's final WNBA career game was Game 2 of the first round in the 2013 WNBA Playoffs. The Storm were eliminated in a two-game sweep by the Minnesota Lynx who would win the championship that year. Thompson recorded 13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals in the loss.
In 2016, Thompson was again honored by the WNBA, being named in the WNBA Top 20@20 in celebration of the league's twentieth anniversary.
On March 31, 2018, Thompson was named to the 2018 class of inductees for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
WNBA career statistics
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|style="background:#afe6ba; width:3em;"|†
|Denotes seasons in which Thompson won a WNBA championship
|}
Regular season
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1997<sup>†</sup>
| align="left" | Houston
| 28 || 28 || 31.6 || .418 || .370 || .838 || 6.6 || 1.1 || 0.8 || 1.0 || 2.2 || 13.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1998<sup>†</sup>
| align="left" | Houston
| 27 || 27 || 32.4 || .419 || .359 || .851 || 7.1 || 0.9 || 1.2 || 0.9 || 1.7 || 12.7
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1999<sup>†</sup>
| align="left" | Houston
| 32 || 32 || 33.6 || .419 || .351 || .782 || 6.4 || 0.9 || 1.0 || 1.0 || 2.2 || 12.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 2000<sup>†</sup>
| align="left" | Houston
| 32 || 32 || 34.0 || .469 || .417 || .837 || 7.7 || 1.5 || 1.5 || 0.8 || 2.6 || 16.9
|-
| align="left" | 2001
| align="left" | Houston
| 30 || 30 || 36.7 || .377 || .293 || .840 || 7.8 || 1.9 || 1.0 || 0.7 || 2.9 || 19.3
|-
| align="left" | 2002
| align="left" | Houston
| 29 || 29 || 36.3 || .431 || .370 || .823 || 7.5 || 2.1 || 0.9 || 0.7 || 3.1 || 16.7
|-
| align="left" | 2003
| align="left" | Houston
| 28 || 28 || 34.8 || .413 || .342 || .779 || 5.9 || 1.7 || 0.6 || 0.8 || 2.4 || 16.9
|-
| align="left" | 2004
| align="left" | Houston
| 26 || 26 || style="background:#D3D3D3"|36.3° || .402 || .407 || .789 || 6.0 || 1.8 || 0.8 || 0.9 || 2.6 || 20.0
|-
| align="left" | 2005
| align="left" | Houston
| 15 || 15 || 29.3 || .413 || .300 || .762 || 3.8 || 1.5 || 0.8 || 0.3 || 2.1 || 10.1
|-
| align="left" | 2006
| align="left" | Houston
| 21 || 21 || 33.1 || .457 || .417 || .804 || 5.6 || 2.2 || 1.0 || 0.6 || 2.4 || 18.7
|-
| align="left" | 2007
| align="left" | Houston
| 34 || 34 || style="background:#D3D3D3"|36.3° || .420 || .400 || .834 || 6.7 || 2.8 || 0.9 || 0.7 || 3.2 || 18.8
|-
| align="left" | 2008
| align="left" | Houston
| 30 || 29 || style="background:#D3D3D3"|35.8° || .413 || .406 || .859 || 6.9 || 2.2 || 1.1 || 0.7 || 3.7 || 18.1
|-
| align="left" | 2009
| align="left" | Los Angeles
| 34 || 34 || 34.8 || .385 || .369 || .867 || 5.9 || 2.3 || 0.8 || 0.7 || 2.7 || 13.0
|-
| align="left" | 2010
| align="left" | Los Angeles
| 33 || 33 || 33.2 || .446 || .352 || .872 || 6.2 || 1.8 || 1.2 || 0.7 || 2.3 || 16.6
|-
| align="left" | 2011
| align="left" | Los Angeles
| 34 || 33 || 25.0 || .386 || .339 || .833 || 4.6 || 1.1 || 1.2 || 0.7 || 2.0 || 9.9
|-
| align="left" | 2012
| align="left" | Seattle
| 29 || 5 || 19.0 || .442 || .427 || .833 || 3.4 || 0.5 || 0.5 || 0.8 || 1.2 || 8.9
|-
| align="left" | 2013
| align="left" | Seattle
|34 || 34 || 28.7 || .410 || .370 || .874 || 5.8 || 1.1 || 0.5 || 0.6 || 1.4 || 14.1
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" |17 years, 3 teams
| 496 || 470 || 32.4 || .418 || .371 || .832 || 6.2 || 1.6 || 0.9 || 0.8 || 2.4 || 15.1
Postseason
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1997<sup>†</sup>
| align="left" | Houston
| 2 || 2 || 37.0 || .429 || .400 || .600 || 9.0 || 1.5 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 3.0 || 13.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1998<sup>†</sup>
| align="left" | Houston
| 5 || 5 || 37.2 || .408 || .350 || .917 || 9.2 || 1.2 || 1.4 || 0.8 || 1.6 || 11.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1999<sup>†</sup>
| align="left" | Houston
| 6 || 6 || 34.7 || .368 || .375 || .762 || 5.0 || 0.7 || 0.8 || 1.2 || 2.1 || 11.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 2000<sup>†</sup>
| align="left" | Houston
| 6 || 6 || 38.8 || .403 || .391 || .944 || 8.0 || 1.7 || 0.8 || 0.8 || 1.6 || 12.7
|-
| align="left" | 2001
| align="left" | Houston
| 2 || 2 || 34.0 || .550 || .600 || .800 || 6.0 || 3.5 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 5.0 || 14.5
|-
| align="left" | 2002
| align="left" | Houston
| 3 || 3 || style="background:#D3D3D3"|42.7° || .364 || .333 || .700 || 8.0 || 1.3 || 2.0 || 1.0 || 0.6 || 14.3
|-
| align="left" | 2003
| align="left" | Houston
| 3 || 3 || 35.3 || .391 || .231 || .857 || 4.7 || 1.7 || 0.7 || 2.0 || 2.0 || 15.0
|-
| align="left" | 2005
| align="left" | Houston
| 5 || 5 || 33.6 || .491 || .300 || .714 || 5.6 || 1.2 || 0.4 || 1.2 || 1.8 || 13.8
|-
| align="left" | 2006
| align="left" | Houston
| 2 || 2 || 31.5 || .381 || .400 || 1.000 || 2.5 || 1.5 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 2.5 || 13.5
|-
| align="left" | 2009
| align="left" | Los Angeles
| 6 || 6 || 36.3 || .378 || .462 || .958 || 7.0 || 2.8 || 0.8 || 0.7 || 2.5 || 15.2
|-
| align="left" | 2010
| align="left" | Los Angeles
| 2 || 2 || style="background:#D3D3D3"|39.0° || .333 || .286 || 1.000 || 6.0 || 3.0 || 1.5 || 2.0 || 1.5 || 17.0
|-
| align="left" | 2012
| align="left" | Seattle
| 3 || 0 || 17.0 || .364 || .333 || .500 || 6.7 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 1.3 || 7.0
|-
| align="left" | 2013
| align="left" | Seattle
| 2 || 2 || 32.6 || .423 || .000 || .500 || 8.5 || 0.0 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 2.0 || 11.5
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" |13 years, 3 teams
| 47 || 44 || 35.0 || .403 || .355 || .838 || 6.7 || 1.5 || 0.9 || 0.9 || 2.0 || 13.0
International career
Thompson was an alternate for the 2000 Olympic squad. Thompson was a member of the U.S. women's basketball team and she earned a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games: Beijing 2008. She was named to the 1998 and 2002 USA World Championship teams, but injuries kept her from both competitions. She earned her gold medal in 2004 in Greece. Two years later, Thompson was promoted to Associate Head Coach with the Lady Longhorns.
After three seasons with the Lady Longhorns, Thompson was named head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball program on April 16, 2018. She was hired by the first African American female athletics director of any power conference university, Carla Williams. On March 3, 2022, the university announced that Thompson had been relieved of her duties after going 30-63 during her tenure.
Head coaching record
Overseas
- 2001–2002: Rovereto Basket
- 2003: Incheon Kumho Life Falcons
- 2005–2006: Cheonan Kookmin Bank Savers
- 2006–2007: Spartak Moscow Region
- 2010: Municipal MCM Târgovişte
- 2012–2013: Chuncheon Woori Bank Hansae
- 2013–2014: Guri KDB Life Winnus
Awards and achievements
- 4-time WNBA Championship
- 2-time Olympic gold medalist
- 2000 WNBA All-Star selection (MVP)
- 9-time WNBA All-Star selection
- Named to the All-WNBA team 8 times
- Member of the WNBA All-Decade Team
- 3rd in WNBA all-time scoring
See also
- List of WNBA career rebounding leaders