5 things we learned from the upcoming ESPN feature about Isaiah Thomas
Following an eventful — and emotional — 2017, the rollercoaster ride for Isaiah Thomas continued into the New Year. Playing just 15 games with the Cavaliers, the 5-foot-9 point guard was suddenly traded to the Los Angeles Lakers at the NBA trade deadline in February, landing him in his third city in just over six months.
Thomas was visibly distraught after he learned Boston had traded him to Cleveland in August — and, at one point, went as far to say he might not ever talk to the team’s president of basketball operations Danny Ainge — but the 29-year-old seemed to take the news of the second trade a little better.
“I didn’t think they would pull the trigger that fast,” he told ESPN’s Ryan Smith in an “E:60” interview scheduled to air Sunday, March 11, at 9 a.m. “But again, it’s a business. The Cavs were, I mean, they were in panic mode. We were losing — a lot. I think they felt like they needed to make a move, and they basically cleared house.”
Although Thomas has yet to start a game for his newest team, he’s doing his best to contribute off the bench and prove to the Lakers he’s worth keeping for the long haul. The two-time All-Star is set to become a free agent this offseason.
An uncertain future is nothing new for the perpetual underdog. Thomas sat down with Smith to discuss the ups and downs of an unlikely journey in the NBA, from getting picked last in the 2011 NBA Draft to playing through the tears after his sister’s death to advancing to the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals.
Here’s what we learned from the pair’s conversation:
Putting on his Lakers uniform was a blast from the past.
Thomas said his father, James, “brainwashed” him into being a Lakers fan at a young age. When he was in third grade, his dad gave him a traditional team warmup set: a yellow top with purple breakaway sweatpants.
“I probably wore that once a week for a few years,” Thomas recalled with a smile.
James said he told his 8-year-old son to not wear the warmups when school picture day rolled around in the fall, but Thomas didn’t listen.
“Pictures got taken, and Isaiah had on the Lakers uniform,” he said.
His grades — not his height — almost prevented his college basketball career.
After a breakout season his junior year of high school, Thomas’s basketball skills began to garner some attention from NCAA coaches. But some were concerned about how his short stature would impact his ability to compete.
“There was a lot of division over what type of prospect he was,” Washington’s Lorenzo Romar told Smith. “People didn’t think he could do the things he was doing in high school at the next level.”
Romar, however, was confident in Thomas as a player and offered the Tacoma native a scholarship. Thomas verbally committed to Washington, but the university almost had to pump the brakes because his grades were falling. His academic performance was so poor that “coaches at Washington were concerned he would be ineligible.”
Despite Thomas’s resistance, James enrolled his son in South Kent School in Connecticut. Thomas would go on to graduate with a high school diploma after repeating his junior year, but he wasn’t too happy about the experience.
“The worst years of my life,” he said. “I was depressed for two years. I was 16 and I had to get my stuff and go across the country to the middle of nowhere.”
His family never made the coast-to-coast trip to watch him play a basketball game, but Thomas’s dad said his time at South Kent helped him grow up.
He holds fake press conferences with his kids.
Thomas’s two sons, Jaiden and James, stole the show during some of the Celtics’ postgame press conferences last season. But it turns out the boys have some “experience” addressing the media.
“They do that at home all the time,” Thomas said. “We do fake press conferences. We do the media after the games. They know when them lights are on.”
He believes he’s still playing around 75 percent right now.
Thomas missed the first two and a half months with the Cavaliers because he was recovering from a hip injury suffered during last season’s playoffs. He struggled to find his groove during his 15 games with Cavaliers, but claimed he “got his powers back” after his debut with the Lakers.
Thomas acknowledged to Smith that he’s not fully 100 percent just yet — and he knows it’s going to take time to get there.
“I said to my wife the other day about how long it took me to get to an MVP-level without being injured,” he said. “So being down seven months, like, you got to be realistic with yourself, it’s going to take a while to be back at that level. I know I’m going to be back better than I was once I get fully healthy.”
He says it doesn’t bother him when people criticize his defense.
Thomas told Smith there’s nothing he can do to change the narrative that he’s a defensive liability. At 5-foot-9, he believes people fault his defense when someone scores on him. But the same people also credit his opponent’s offense when the same player scores on those who are 6-foot-4. As critical as the naysayers might be, Thomas said their words don’t affect his outlook.
“At the end of the day, defense is not an individual thing,” he said. “It’s about the team. It’s about five guys. I hold my own. The numbers aren’t everything. … It doesn’t bother me when people say that. I’m the shortest guy in the NBA. They’re going to say that.”
Moving forward, Thomas said he plans to continue to just be himself. When asked about his goals for the future, he said they’re the same as they’ve always been. He wants to win a championship and the league MVP award.
“That doesn’t change,” he said. “That doesn’t change. When I was a rookie, not playing, that was the same goal. I wanted to be one of the best players to ever play. That’s going to happen.”
Watch the complete “E:60” feature Sunday, March 11 at 9 a.m. EST on ESPN.
