The Los Angeles Lakers are planning on signing two-time All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas.
The news was first reported by Marc Stein. According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, Thomas will be added on a 10-day contract via the “hardship exemption,” should the Lakers be granted the exemption.
Per Larry Coon's invaluable guide to the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, the hardship exemption can be utilized when a team has four or more players out with illness or injury that causes them to miss at least three regular-season games each. When one of those players is able to return, the exemption ends and the team will have to release a player from its active roster.
With the additions of Russell Westbrook and Avery Bradley, the Lakers currently have five players in the NBA's health and safety protocols. Russ, plus Dwight Howard, Malik Monk, and Talen Horton-Tucker. Kendrick Nunn (knee bone bruise) and Trevor Ariza (ankle surgery) have yet to play this season and remain out.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/07X5e8U73vXXesGhwMlzEq?si=2e9342b1c6a941ff
As of Thursday, Dwight, Monk, and THT have only missed one game while in protocols — Wednesday's win over the Dallas Mavericks. Westbrook was added Thursday afternoon. Based on the Lakers' applying for the hardship exemption — and the Thomas news coming out shortly before the Russ news — the team must have assurances that at least two of them will miss at least the next two games. (Players can return from protocols after 10 days or with two negative PCR tests in a 24-hour window) and that they will be granted the exemption.
The Lakers have two more games on their road trip: at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, then the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. Tip-off time for the Bulls matchup at the United Center has been pushed back as the Bulls deal with a massive COVID-19 outbreak.
Lakers injury report for Wolves game (Fri) lists 7 players OUT – 5 in protocols, plus Ariza & Nunn. That leaves LA w/ 8 available bodies, the minimum required for a game.
The signing of Isaiah Thomas is impending. 2-ways and Jay Huff & Chaundee Brown were active in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/f7kP3yQi0D
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) December 16, 2021
Thomas played 17 games for the Lakers at the end of the 2017-18 season. He'll be the seventh veteran to join the 2021-22 Lakers who has already played for the franchise. He ups the team's total All-Star appearances count to 59 — the most for any roster in NBA history.
The 32-year old played three games in 2020-21 on a 10-day contract for the New Orleans Pelicans. He averaged 12.2 PPG on 40.8% shooting in 40 games for the Washington Wizards in 2019-20.
The Lakers brought Thomas in for a workout last summer and reportedly weighed signing him.
Earlier this week, Thomas went on record saying he believed the Lakers would have signed him had Rajon Rondo not reached a buyout with the Memphis Grizzlies. He then dropped 42 points in his one game for the Denver Nuggets' G-League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold.
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