Lakers Isaiah Thomas Shows Why He Belongs in His Debut
Through true grit and perseverance, Isaiah Thomas played in his first game this season and showed flashes of his season in Boston, where he averaged 29 points and six assists.
In 21 minutes, he scored a team-high 19 points with two triples and was able to do what he did best in his prime, get to the charity stripe. Before the serious hip injury he suffered, he averaged about 8.5 freebies in the 2016-17 campaign that made him an MVP candidate.
“Happy to see him [IT] back in the league,” LeBron James reflects on Thomas performance after Friday’s loss. “The difference between seeing him in Cleveland and now is he’s healthy now. He wasn’t healthy in Cleveland and he was playing on pure grit, which did not allow him to be pre-injury, obviously he has his shot back and it’s good to have him.”
After his career year where he led the Celtics to the Conference Finals, the Celtics traded him to Cleveland to acquire Kyrie Irving. Thomas suffered a serious hip injury in the playoffs, but continued to play on to help his team advance as far as they could. He also had to deal with the abrupt death of his sister just before the playoffs started in that 2017 season.
Since that season, he has never been the same as his hip injury has severely limited his ability to finish at the rim and draw fouls. After his debut, Thomas talked about the struggles within the past four years.
“My low moments were just not being able to play at the level that I’m accustomed to playing at. Like, that was very frustrating when your mind is telling you to do something but your body won’t allow you to do it. And that was my first major injury so that was like, basketball is everything to me, so it really stopped me from being who I am. It really stopped me from being happy. Those were the lowest moments of my life. Obviously in ’17 my sister passed away and then like everything went downhill it felt like. But I laid on my support system, which is my family. My wife, my kids, they kept me going.”
With only a limited number of reps with his new teammates, Thomas showed that he could still ball. Just earlier this week in his lone game for the Grand Rapids Gold, he went off for 42 points, 16 of 20 shooting, and added eight assists and six rebounds, with five triples. Lakers GM Rob Pelinka called soon after to ink him to a 10-day contract.
Thomas reflected on the greatest moment so far that he experienced recently, and it wasn't even anything on the hardwood.
“When I checked in the game and they [fans] really cheered for me—and this is an away game. Those moments mean more to me than anything, just because people respect what I do and people respect the grind that I’m on. And I think me being 5’9” helps. Like, I’m the normal person’s heigh so people cheer for me just because of that. But this whole situation, I’m so thankful for it…I just never thought I would feel this way again. I have no limitations with my body, with my hip and that’s why I just smile so much because I’m just in a great place mentally and a great place physically.”
It really is a bittersweet moment for the 10-year veteran as he finally made his debut this season. For many players in the league, all it takes is for that one opportunity for them to seize and make the most out of their career. Thomas could have easily hung up his sneakers after the significant injuries he suffered, but he showed that he truly loves the game of basketball, and that he belongs in this league.
