Fansided

NBA Free Agency 2018: 20 best players available

By Micah Wimmer

NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 22: Isaiah Thomas #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on March 22, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 22: Isaiah Thomas #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on March 22, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – MARCH 22: Isaiah Thomas #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on March 22, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – MARCH 22: Isaiah Thomas #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on March 22, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

19. Isaiah Thomas

To call Isaiah Thomas’ 2017-18 season depressing would be quite the understatement, especially considering how transcendent and delightful watching him had been the season before, when he finished fifth in MVP voting and earned the title of “King of the Fourth” for his regular late game heroics. After suffering a hip injury in the Playoffs and being traded to Cleveland, Thomas returned in January to play fifteen games with the Cavaliers that can be charitably described as awkward and not very good. He struggled to blend in, and, also, to make any shots. Quickly, he was traded to the Lakers where he looked merely not bad rather than abysmal, which was quite the improvement. He had seemingly lost the ability to make shots, maneuver through the defensive easily, and his own defensive liabilities became somehow even more glaring due to his lessened mobility. It was all very bad.

And now, no one knows what to make of Isaiah Thomas. Was last season an anomaly as he recovered from injury and was placed in less than ideal situations or is this just who a 29 year old post-injury Thomas is now? Thomas did undergo a “minimally invasive” surgery in March on the injured hip that was supposed to clean out the debris that had not yet cleared out on its own. Fans can only hope that this does the trick and returns him to his old self.

Thomas will almost certainly not be receiving the Brinks Truck treatment he had hoped for, and it’s doubtful there will be much of a market for him considering the uncertainty of whether he can ever play like he did just a little while ago. What seems most likely is that Thomas will be signed to a one year deal in order to prove himself in the hopes of earning a bigger payday next offseason.

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