Joachim Gunther "Sonny" Thoss (born December 7, 1981) is a German-Filipino former professional basketball player. He played his entire career in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) with the Alaska Aces, where his jersey number is retired.

Early life and education

Joachim Thoss was born on December 7, 1981, in Papua New Guinea to a German father and to a Filipina mother. His father, Joachim Thoss Sr. was an East German patrol guard who patrolled the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

before it fell and is a carpenter who is involved in construction projects in Papua New Guinea. The younger Thoss' mother, Jesusa Marticio, is from Cebu. He attended Port Moresby High School. Basketball competitions in Papua New Guinea are rare; Thoss only represented his high school in one-day tournaments. He moved to Australia in 1999 to attend

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

Semi-professional career

After Thoss moved to Australia played for the Cairns Marlins of the Australian Basketball Association. He trained under Cairns Taipans assistant coach, Aaron Fearne. During his Marlins stint he was named as Most Improved Player in 2001 and was named as part of the league's under-23 squad.

Professional career

He was the 5th overall pick in the 2004 PBA draft selected by the Alaska Aces and he was also the tallest rookie picked in that class. In his early years, Sonny was the backup center for the Aces behind the dominant big men Ali Peek and

E.J. Feihl Edward Joseph "E. J." Feihl (born March 27, 1970) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player of German Filipino descent. He stands 7'1" tall, making him the tallest Filipino professional basketball player ever to play in the PBA. A ...

in Alaska's rotation. But in his later years, Thoss eventually became Alaska's starting big man and become one of the team's top players. In the 2007 Fiesta Conference, he won his first championship. In the 2009–10 Philippine Cup Finals, Thoss and the Aces were swept by the

Purefoods TJ Giants The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, or simply known as the Magnolia Hotshots, are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team is owned by San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc., San Miguel Food and Bever ...

. The Aces were able to bounce back in that year's Fiesta Conference Finals, by defeating the San Miguel Beermen in five games. In 2011, he was awarded the PBA Sportsmanship Award. In 2012, he and Alaska finished with a 10-22 record. In the 2012–13 Philippine Cup, the Aces started the season with two straight losses. But the Aces were able to get their first win of the season despite Thoss suffering from a bum stomach against the

Barako Bull Energy Cola The Barako Bull Energy were a Philippine Basketball Association team that began in 2002 as the FedEx Express. From its first season until 2005, the team was dubbed as the FedEx Express before changing to Air21 Express. From the 2009 PBA Fies ...

. Despite having zero points, he had six rebounds and four blocks. From there, the Aces went on a four-game winning streak. In the 2013 Commissioner's Cup, he earned Player of the Week honors for the week of March 4–10. He then missed several games during the Commissioner’s Cup due to a bad back. But once the playoffs began, the 31-year-old veteran center helped the top-seeded Aces to victories over the Air21 Express in the quarterfinals, before dethroning the San Mig Coffee Mixers following a 3–1 series win in the semifinals. He raised his game further in the Finals, averaging 14 points and close to 10 rebounds, while playing a huge defensive role in neutralizing

Barangay Ginebra The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distillers, Inc.), a subsidia ...

import Vernon Macklin.The Aces won the title that conference, as he claimed Finals MVP. He was also on the Mythical Second Team and All-Defensive Team that season. In the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

– The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

14 Philippine Cup, Thoss grabbed 11 rebounds in a win over San Mig Coffee. Some games later, he had a career-high 30 points in an overtime loss to the

Talk N' Text Tropang Texters The TNT (cellular service), TNT Tropang Giga is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Associat ...

. The Aces failed to defend their Commissioner's Cup title that year. He was named to the Mythical Second Team and the All-Star team for that season. After the season, he, together with JVee Casio and Cyrus Baguio, re-signed with the Aces. In the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

15 Philippine Cup Finals, Thoss matched up with June Mar Fajardo, where the Beermen beat the Aces in seven games. They matched up again in the 2015–16 Philippine Cup Finals, from Game 5 up to the end of the series. San Miguel won that series despite Alaska holding a 3–0 series lead at first. He struggled in that series. At age 35, he had a conference-high 15 points in a win over the Rain or Shine Elastopainters during the 2017 Commissioner's Cup. He also had five rebounds and two assists in that game, giving him Player of the Week honors. He was once again an all-star that year and the following year as well. In 2018, he also participated in the Obstacle Challenge during All-Star Week. The Aces also made the Finals for the Governors' Cup, where they lost to the Magnolia Hotshots in six games. In 2019, he scored 21 points against the

NLEX Road Warriors The NLEX Road Warriors is a professional basketball team owned by NLEX Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, currently playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since the 2014–2015 season. The Roa ...

to send the Aces to the Philippine Cup playoffs. On May 17, 2021, Coach Jeffrey Cariaso announced that Thoss had retired.

National team career

In 2009, Thoss was named to the Powerade Team Pilipinas for the 2009 FIBA Asia Men's championship. He averaged 13 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.0 block in the first three games of the tournament, but those numbers dipped to just 3.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in the last six games. For that performance, he wasn't considered for the 2010 Asian Games and 2011 FIBA Asia Championships in Wuhan, China. In 2012, Thoss was on the Gilas team that won the gold medal at the Jones Cup. At first, he wasn't allowed to play in the

FIBA Asia Cup The FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship and ABC Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every four years between the men's national teams of Asia and Oceania. Through the 2015 edition, the tourn ...

that year, as Alaska team owner

Wilfred Uytengsu Wilfred Steven "Fred" B. Uytengsu Jr. is a Filipino businessman. As of August 2017, ''Forbes'' lists him as the 35th richest in the Philippines with a net worth of $240 Million. Personal life Uytengsu was born in 1961 in Cebu City to Wilfred T. ...

insisted that he practice with the Aces instead after a dismal record the previous season. But eventually, he was able to participate in the tournament, where Gilas finished fourth. The following year, Thoss was named to the Gilas pool for the

2013 FIBA Asia Championship The 2013 FIBA Asia Championship for Men was the intercontinental championship for basketball organized by FIBA Asia that served as the qualifying tournament for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. The tournament was held from August 1–1 ...

. But once again, he was not allowed from joining Gilas practices. Alaska and the national team were able to reach a compromise, which was that Thoss was only allowed to observe practices. He also had to miss a training camp in Lithuania, as he had to have therapy for his back. He was not chosen for the final lineup for that tournament. In 2015, Thoss was the backup big man for naturalized player

Andray Blatche Andray Maurice Blatche (born August 22, 1986) is an American-Filipino former professional basketball player. He played nine seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 2005 and 2014 before finishing his career with five seasons ...

during the

2015 FIBA Asia Championship The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship was the 28th and last edition of the FIBA Asia Championship in men's basketball in Asia. It was organised by FIBA Asia. At the FIBA Asia Congress held in Doha, Qatar, the Central Board awarded the hosting rights to ...

Honors

On November 12, 2015, he was named as one of Alaska's 30 Greatest Players. On March 6, 2022, Thoss' number was retired by the Aces. That would be the last number retired by the Alaska franchise, as they were acquired by Converge ICT.

PBA career statistics

Real GM

Season-by-season averages

, - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska Aces (PBA), Alaska , 67 , , 21.8 , , .468 , , .000 , , .659 , , 5.6 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .4 , , 6.3 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 49 , , 21.0 , , .475 , , .000 , , .661 , , 5.4 , , .8 , , .2 , , .6 , , 5.7 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 53 , , 25.1 , , .576 , , .000 , , .709 , , 6.2 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , .6 , , 10.1 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 47 , , 30.3 , , .537 , , .000 , , .732 , , 8.3 , , 1.8 , , .2 , , .7 , , 9.6 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 47 , , 27.0 , , .548 , , .500 , , .595 , , 6.5 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , 1.0 , , 8.6 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 58 , , 24.8 , , .535 , , .000 , , .658 , , 5.6 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , .7 , , 8.3 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 42 , , 32.2 , , .491 , , .667 , , .634 , , 9.7 , , 2.2 , , .2 , , 1.2 , , 11.6 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 35 , , 36.0 , , .455 , , .000 , , .727 , , 8.3 , , 2.1 , , .4 , , 1.2 , , 12.5 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 53 , , 30.6 , , .463 , , .000 , , .619 , , 6.3 , , 1.9 , , .4 , , .7 , , 10.0 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 43 , , 32.2 , , .466 , , .000 , , .650 , , 7.6 , , 2.4 , , .4 , , .8 , , 11.1 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 50 , , 22.7 , , .444 , , .000 , , .633 , , 4.6 , , 1.3 , , .3 , , .5 , , 7.4 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 60 , , 22.8 , , .493 , , .364 , , .687 , , 5.0 , , 1.6 , , .4 , , .6 , , 8.3 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 28 , , 21.4 , , .409 , , .200 , , .568 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .4 , , 7.2 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 42 , , 17.0 , , .423 , , .154 , , .640 , , 3.3 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , .1 , , 5.1 , - , align=left , , align=left , Alaska , 38 , , 17.0 , , .450 , , .111 , , .590 , , 3.3 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .3 , , 6.4 , -class=sortbottom , align=center colspan=2 , Career , 712 , , 25.4 , , .485 , , .186 , , .661 , , 6.0 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , .7 , , 8.5

References

External links

Thoss' Player Profile
at PBA-Online! {{DEFAULTSORT:Thoss, Sonny 1981 births Living people Alaska Aces (PBA) players Centers (basketball) Citizens of the Philippines through descent James Cook University alumni People from the National Capital District (Papua New Guinea) Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars Philippines men's national basketball team players Filipino men's basketball players Alaska Aces (PBA) draft picks Papua New Guinean people of Filipino descent Philippine Basketball Association players with retired numbers