Denver Nuggets guard Isaiah Thomas' Brinks truck delivery was a foregone conclusion after a career-best season with the Boston Celtics as it has been delayed now for quite some time, likely waiting for re-delivery in the next offseason.
The 5-foot-9 dynamo is coming off two hip surgeries and a proverbial bet on his own talent by signing a one-year deal with the Nuggets for the veteran's minimum, hoping to regain his short-lived status as one of the NBA's elite.
Yet according to ESPN's Jeff Goodman, that could prove a task too tough to achieve, noting the Brinks truck would have never come for him, even if he was healthy.
“Isaiah Thomas is right for certain situations. He was perfect in Boston for a couple years because they didn’t have another guy like him that could do some things off the bounce like he could,” said Goodman on the Good N' Plenty podcast on CNLS Media. “But I still say he was never going to get max money if he was healthy. Didn’t matter. Nobody is going to pay him max money. Would he have gotten a lot more than $2 million for a one-year deal? Sure.”
Certain ball-stopping players have that particular system fit, which renders them useless in different teams or rotations. Celtics coach Brad Stevens based his system around Thomas, which allowed him to flourish to the tune of 28.9 points per game, ranking third in the NBA in scoring in 2016-17.
While he might have thought that his high-scoring season came at a prime time, his injury ultimately made the team even more concerned about offering him a juicy long-term deal, ultimately shipping him to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a blockbuster trade for Kyrie Irving.
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