She grew up playing basketball with her brother TJ and his friends at Robertson Park in West Los Angeles, California.

Source[2] Thompson represented the US at the 1995 World University Games held in Fukuoka, Japan, in August and September 1995.

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.

[5] Thompson was named to the national team representing the US at the 2006 World Championships, held in Barueri and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Prior to the 2005 season, Thompson had given birth to Dyllan Thompson-Jones,[7] her first child in May, with then NBA player Damon Jones being the biological father; she resumed playing with the Comets two months later.

In 2006, Thompson returned to peak condition, averaging 18.7 ppg and scored a career-high 37 points in a triple-overtime loss to the Phoenix Mercury.

That year the Comets made the playoffs for the final time before folding, after they were eliminated in a two-game sweep by the Sacramento Monarchs in the first round.

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.

[12] 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.

[17] September 14, 2013, marked the final regular-season game of Thompson's career which resulted in a victory over the Tulsa Shock.

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 was a member of the U.S. women's basketball team and she earned a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games: Beijing 2008.

[22] After three seasons with the Lady Longhorns, Thompson was named head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball program on April 16, 2018.

[23] She was hired by the first African American female athletics director of any power conference university, Carla Williams.