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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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 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 2013–14 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.

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.