The last time Isaiah Thomas played in an NBA game was back on February 3, 2020, but that date is about to change this week.
Over the weekend, the New Orleans Pelicans announced that they signed the 10-year veteran guard to a 10-day contract. It's so fitting that he requested to wear the No. 24 -- paying homage to the late great Kobe Bryant -- because he's poured his heart and soul into the game of basketball. Thomas has gotten every single ounce of talent out of his 5-foot-9 frame, and his signing shouldn't be overshadowed, as he's one of the biggest overachievers in NBA history.
Despite his height and being the last pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Thomas has fooled us on both accounts with his play. In his first six seasons, he never averaged fewer than 12 points per game. In three of his first six seasons, he averaged over 20 points per game, and that culminated in an unforgettable 2016-17 season, in which he scored 29 points on average. Thomas amassed 2,199 points and dished out 448 assists that season, and in the last 15 years, only five other players have accomplished the feat -- LeBron James, James Harden, Stephen Curry, Dwyane Wade, and Russell Westbrook. Those five stars will be first ballot Hall of Famers. For greater context, Dirk Nowitzki is the sixth-leading scorer in NBA history, and he never put up 2,199 points in any one of his 21 seasons. Even Carmelo Anthony, who is an NBA scoring champion and currently ranks 11th on the league's all-time scoring list, has never tallied that amount of points in a single season.
Thomas didn’t just put up historically great numbers in 2016-17. Those numbers led to many wins, and he absolutely carried the Boston Celtics as their lone All-Star that season. In fact, Al Horford was the only other player on that Celtics roster to have ever made an All-Star team. In contrast to the Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers had three players -- James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love -- make the All-Star game during that campaign. Cleveland also had two more players in Kyle Korver and Deron Williams who were All-Stars at one point in their careers, so that is five Cavaliers All-Stars compared to just two on the Celtics. As a result, it was surprising that the Celtics finished with a better record than the Cavaliers and earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. It's so rare for the top seed in a conference to produce just one All-Star in a given season, but, Boston can thank Thomas for that achievement.
Only 17 players in NBA history have stood at 5-foot-9 or shorter. The 2,199 points that Thomas put up in 2016-17 is a single-season record for anyone that height or below it, and the only player to come within 900 points of that mark in a single season is Naismith Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy. Let's dive even deeper into this. There are over 400 players in NBA history who've stood at 6-foot-1 and shorter. Of those 400, just two have more points in a single season than Thomas, and they are Hall of Famers and scoring champions Allen Iverson and Nate “Tiny” Archibald.
Thirty-six Hall of Famers have played for the Celtics across 75 seasons. Boston is so rich in tradition, that they've had multiple seasons where as many as eight Hall of Famers were on a single roster. With all of those historically great players, it makes it even more impressive that only two players in franchise history -- John Havlicek and Larry Bird -- have topped Thomas in points for a single season. Havlicek is a Top-30 player in NBA history -- he happens to be eight inches taller than Thomas -- and it’s undisputed that Bird, who is one whole foot taller than Thomas, is a Top-10 player of all-time. Not even the great Paul Pierce matches what Thomas did in a Celtics uniform.
Thomas finished top-five in MVP voting during the 2016-17 season. He had more MVP votes than Curry, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Anthony Davis, just to name a few. Try to find any other player even 6-foot-2 or shorter who had more MVP votes than all four of those individuals in a single season -- you won’t!
Thomas' MVP play on and off the court carried into the postseason, but in mid-April, tragedy struck Thomas' family, as his younger sister, Chyna, was killed in a single-car accident in Washington state. Thomas managed to fight through that immense pain, and just one day after his sister's death, he was on the court for the Celtics. Thomas then found himself playing through dental surgery, and his season ultimately ended due to a hip injury he suffered against Cleveland during the Eastern Conference Finals. Who knows how far Thomas could've carried that Celtics squad had he not dealt with substantial adversity, both on and off the court. Injuries alone took a toll on Thomas' potential, and ultimately cost him over a hundred million dollars.
Just one month after being one of the five best players in the NBA, in anticipation of a max offer by the Celtics, Thomas was traded to the Cavaliers. Due to injury, he went from an almost-certain nine-figure deal to making the veteran minimum one year later. Fast forward to today, and Thomas is now playing on a 10-day contact with the Pelicans -- his sixth team in less than five years. We don't know what the future holds for Thomas, but let's hope for a resurgence for a player who knows how to make the most of tough situations.
The four players picked ahead of Thomas in the 2011 draft combined for zero minutes played in their NBA careers. Excluding Thomas, not one player selected in the second round in 2011 has ever made an All-Star team. Thomas would defy the odds if he turns this 10-day contract into the remainder of the season. But he's defied the odds throughout his NBA career, so don’t expect anything less. To one of the greatest overachievers this sport has seen in a long time, it's great to have you back.
CBS Sports Radio producer David Shepard is a former ESPN researcher, a former Division I college basketball practice player, and the host of The Good Shepard YouTube channel. Follow him on Twitter @TheGoodShepard_.