After finishing fifth in MVP voting last season, Isaiah Thomas has endured a disastrous 2017/18. Having been traded from the Celtics to the Cavaliers to the Lakers, Thomas has battled a hip injury and has seen his stock slip precipitously over the course of the season. Nonetheless, he’s remaining optimistic about his upcoming free agency, saying today that “all you need is one team to love you,” as ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk relays.
“It’s like the draft all over again. You just need one team,” Thomas said. “My résumé speaks for itself. What I can do on the basketball floor speaks for itself. I can’t do nothing but control what I can control, and that is taking advantage of any opportunity that I am given and playing my heart out. But come July, I got to weigh my options to do what is best for myself and my family.”
A year ago, when he was still a relatively healthy Celtic, Thomas spoke about the possibility of a maximum-salary contract, suggesting that Boston would need to “bring the Brinks truck out.” As the 2018 offseason nears, the idea of that sort of mega-deal seems far-fetched.
After averaging 28.9 PPG and 5.9 APG on .463/.379/.909 shooting in 2016/17, Thomas has seen those numbers slip to 14.3 PPG, 4.5 APG, and .369/.269/.899 in 21 games this season. While that drop-off can be attributed – at least in part – to his hip problems, that injury itself is a red flag for teams considering investing in the 29-year-old this summer. Still, Thomas believes he’s capable of returning to his previous form.
“It is, ‘What have you done for me lately?'” Thomas said. “That is the league that we are in and I understand that. But if I am given the same opportunity that I was given in Boston, I would do the same thing and that is just what it is. They’ll [people who have forgotten what Thomas can do] come back around, I am positive about that.”
As Youngmisuk notes, most NBA teams won’t have much – or any – cap space this summer, and many of those that will have space already have talented point guards on their rosters. As such, Thomas’ options in free agency figure to be limited. As Thomas himself observes, it would only take one team to put a big offer on the table, but Youngmisuk suggests a lucrative, J.J. Redick-esque one-year contract may be the best Thomas can hope for, unless he’s willing to go the mid-level route for a multiyear deal.
The Lakers have plenty of Max cap space he is way better than Baller Brand ,,lol,,back up that Brink’s truck about 2.5 inches..