Sonny Thoss

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 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.

In the 2009–10 Philippine Cup finals, Thoss and the Aces were swept by the Purefoods TJ Giants. 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. Despite having zero points, he had six rebounds and four blocks. 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 was also on the Mythical Second Team and All-Defensive Team that season.

In the 2013–14 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 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 2014–15 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. He also had five rebounds and two assists in that game, giving him Player of the Week honors.

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 to send the Aces to the Philippine Cup playoffs.

On May 17, 2021, Coach Jeffrey Cariaso announced that Thoss had retired. 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. At first, he wasn't allowed to play in the FIBA Asia Cup that year, as Alaska team owner Wilfred Uytengsu insisted that he practice with the Aces instead after a dismal record the previous season. 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.

In 2015, Thoss was the backup big man for naturalized player Andray Blatche during the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship.

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.

PBA career statistics

Season-by-season averages