Isaiah Thomas believes he will get another shot in NBA
Isaiah Thomas might be 35-years-old and well beyond his prime or 5-foot-9 chasing a league that’s continued to drift away from players with his physical stature, but that has stopped him from pursuing a second life as an NBA player.
The 11-year NBA veteran recently signed with the Salt Lake City Stars, the Utah Jazz’s G-League affiliate, in hopes of making it back to the NBA after having not appeared in an NBA game in nearly two calendar years.
In three games with Salt Lake, he’s averaged 32 points, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 37.3 minutes, shooting 37.9 percent from the floor, 40.9 percent from 3-point range (14.7 3PA!!!; 66.7 3PAr) and 94.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Thomas believes another team will give him a shot at the league–whether it’s on a 10-day contract, two-way or standard contract.
“I’m going to just continue to fight, continue to do it with a smile on my face,” Thomas recently said, according to Jay King of The Athletic. “And I know at some point somebody’s going to give me a chance. And I always say I’m going to just laugh at the things I’ve been put through. It just tests you, that’s all. The game is going to test you no matter how good or bad you are.“
It’s a microscopic sample, but Thomas has impressed against the Wisconsin Herd (Bucks G-League affiliate), Sioux Falls Skyforce (Miami Heat) and Texas Legends (Dallas Mavericks), who have been the No. 8, 12 and 27 best defenses (out of 31) this regular season, respectively.
He has been a part of 10 different organizations in his career: Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans and Charlotte Hornets.
In his most recent NBA season in 2021-22, he played just 22 games with the Lakers, Mavericks and Hornets, averaging 8.4 points on 40.1/33.7/84.6 shooting splits across 15.1 minutes per contest.
The height of his peak came with the Boston Celtics, earning second-team All-NBA and top-5 in MVP voting in 2016-17. Over his 11-year career, he’s averaged 17.7 points and 4.8 assists on 43.4 percent shooting, 36.2 percent from beyond the arc (5.2 3PA) and 87.2 percent from the free-throw line. Despite any physical shortcomings, Thomas has been able to get buckets–who knows, perhaps an NBA team takes a 10-day flier on him either this season or next.
“It would be so easy to just quit and be at the crib,” Thomas said. “Anybody can do that. I just know I have so much more left in the tank. The biggest hill I had to overcome was being hurt. That was depressing because I’d never been in a situation where I can’t control what’s going on. And once I was able to overcome that, it was like, just sharpen my skills, be ready for the next opportunity.
“And I know the crazy thing about it is I’m 5-9, so I know these opportunities don’t come all the time. And with a guy being hurt at 5-9, they kind of look past you; they don’t think you could be as special as you were before. But ask anybody who’s gotta guard me: I’m that same player. And I’m just super thankful to be out here. Like, for real. I’m appreciative of everybody that’s been pulling for me.”
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