Ring Girl Sydney Thomas Steals The Show Courtside At An Atlanta Hawks Game

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Sydney Thomas continues to receive the internet's attention at sporting events. The latest sign that she's well on her way to a huge 2025 came on Saturday during a Heat-Hawks game in Atlanta.

The 21-year-old, who stole social media's heart as a ring girl during the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul cash grab, had a VIP experience for her first NBA game. She was courtside performing another theft.

ring girl sydney thomas courtside atlanta hawks game

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - DECEMBER 28: Sydney Thomas attends the game between the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena on December 28, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

Thomas was hard at work stealing the show from her Michelob Ultra-provided seat. 

I know what you're thinking. Did she actually steal the show? Let's put it this way. Had she gone full ring girl courtside, it would’ve been too big of a distraction.

She toned it down much like she had to do when she went to a Raiders game after her viral success, brought her University of Alabama pal Regan Ward with her, and still put up numbers.

Nobody is talking about a Heat-Hawks game the Saturday after Christmas. We're in game 30-something out of 82 after all. But now they are and that's the doing of Sydney Thomas.

Sydney Thomas put up big numbers courtside for the Hawks

Thomas pulled off a theft of a show at the highest levels in the basketball world in her very first NBA game. That's not easy to do. Some spend years attending games before a camera happens to catch them.

Sure, she was an invited guest and had the full red carpet treatment. But the Hawks organization knew what it was doing. They saw the numbers from Christmas day head-to-head with the NFL.

Props to the Hawks for getting creative here. They've put up more than 17 million views with just the two posts on Twitter featuring Thomas.

Those numbers blow away most of their content, which doesn't even crack six digits most of the time.

If you want to help the sport out, stop listening to nerds who want more threes and bring out the big guns courtside. That includes viral ring girls. The numbers don't lie.