If you look at Isaiah Thomas' cumulative statistics at a quick glance, you might not think he needs to do much in order to garner interest from teams and continue his NBA career. He's played in every season since his debut in 2011. He's a two-time All-Star, a former All-NBA player and a proven scorer with an 18.1 PPG average over a decade. According to Basketball Reference, there are 28 active players since 2010 that have a career average of more than 18 points and have played in 300 games. The only person in that group who aren't currently signed to a team? That would be Isaiah Thomas.
But if you've been following along at all, you'll know that Thomas has had a more difficult time finding a consistent, continual role with any organization in recent years. In 2016-17 with the Celtics, he averaged 28.9 points per game and was an All-Star. In 2017, he was a G-Leaguer. As Billy Pilgrim would say: so it goes.
He was then unable to sustain any sort of prominent role with the Lakers, Nuggets, Wizards, Clippers (who waived him before he actually played) or Pelicans in recent years. His 10-day contract this season with the Pelicans saw him score 23 points in three appearances as a bench option, with inefficient shooting splits and porous defense. Not all was bad though. He certainly showed glimpses of the old IT.
Ultimately, his performance wasn't good enough for the Pels to give him another 10-day contract or a longer term deal. But he's not giving up yet. Thomas took to Twitter to ask — maybe beg? — for another shot in the NBA, and he isn't even necessarily asking for playing time.
Where could he go? A reunion with the Celtics wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. After all, they rank second-to-last in the NBA in bench scoring this season and could use additional help in the isolation department (see video at the top of the page). The same goes for the Miami Heat, who are in the bottom-10 isolation scoring teams in the NBA. Coincidentally — or perhaps it's not a coincidence — both the Celtics and Heat were mentioned as reportedly interested parties in Thomas after the Pelicans let him go.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram