The Los Angeles Lakers are signing former all-star Isaiah Thomas to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception. Thomas is coming off an impressive outing for the Grand Rapid Gold where he scored 42 points on 16 for 30 shooting from the floor and also dished out 8 assists. Prior to signing with the Gold Thomas was last seen playing for Team USA in the World Cup Qualifier team in November. His two appearance Thomas lit it up from deep knocking down 44.8% of his 29 three-point attempts. Thomas also record 18 assist.
Thomas has struggled to find a place in the league in recent years. His latest stint in the league lasted only 10 days last season with New Orleans Pelicans. Thomas appeared in three games and provided very inefficient scoring. In his three appearances the 5’9” guard went 9 for 27 from the floor including 3 for 12 from deep.
This will be Isaiah’s second stint with the Lakers. As a Laker in 2017-18 Thomas’s time on the court resulted in a negative 14 point per 100 possession net rating. Thomas played 26.8 minutes per game but managed to still attempt the second most shots per game for Los Angeles averaging 13.4 field goal attempts. He would only make 38.3% of those.
That same season Thomas began the year playing next to LeBron James in Cleveland. Unfortunately, the results were even worse than in Los Angeles. In the 339 minutes he and James shared the court together Cleveland had a net rating of -17.27. The Lakers are hoping that his hot shooting and solid play making will continue from the G League however all recent evidence on the pro level points to this signing going nowhere.
Nate Schwartz
Podcast host for Hoops Temple and blogger for Temple Entertainment and Media. Studied Kinesiology with an emphasis on sports psychology and coaching basketball at Michigan State University. Coached at the High School level for 8 seasons.