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Fantasy Basketball: What Will Isaiah Thomas’ Value Be?

By Dave Fuqua

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What Will Isaiah Thomas‘ Value Be?

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Isaiah Thomas was traded to the Celtics last season at the February trade deadline. He went there and made an immediate impact as the sixth man and back-up to the Celtics’ rookie Marcus Smart. Thomas, while healthy, managed to average about 18 points and five assists even as the backup point guard for the Celtics in roughly about 25 minutes-per-game.

According to BasketballReference.com Thomas’ per-36 minute stats have him averaging 23 points, six assists and 5.7 rebounds a game. His team-mate Marcus Smart averaged around 30 minutes-per-game in the same time span that Thomas was with the Celtics. Smart did not have great numbers and averaged about eight points with three rebounds and three assists.

Now I realize that Smart was only a rookie last year and he will most likely improve his game over the summer. I would think that the Celtics will probably choose to use Thomas in the starter’s role as the more seasoned player and giving them a better chance to carry the momentum of making the playoffs last season into the 2015-2016 season. This is a battle for a starter’s job that we here at Fantasy CPR will help you keep an eye on as obviously we have no crystal ball and can not predict who the starter at PG for the Celtics will be. At this point not even Coach Brad Stevens can tell us that.

There is maybe an outside chance that the Celtics could insert Smart at SG and Thomas as the starting PG, but if Smart moves to the bench he will lose a tremendous amount of fantasy value. If Smart wins the job and Thomas stays in the sixth man role I would expect him to produce at the same rate that he did last season. I like Thomas as a player and think because of his size that he will always be an under-valued NBA player.

My take is that Isaiah Thomas becomes an intriguing dynasty league and keeper league player. It will be somewhat risky to keep him if you don’t know who the starter will be when your keepers lock, but at the worse case scenario it will be safe to assume he replicates what he did last season.

My gut feeling is that Thomas will win the job, but that feeling could be driven by the fact that I have always liked Thomas as a player. The Pizza Guy has always delivered nice fantasy value for me in leagues and if you can execute a nice deal to acquire him then he could do the same for you if he wins this job in Boston. If you don’t mind taking some risk, then make a move to acquire Thomas and get a leg up on your competition in dynasty and keeper leagues.

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