After bouncing around from team to team over the past couple of seasons (three teams in two years) and playing in a grand total of only 44 games mostly due to injuries, veteran guard Isaiah Thomas appears to have found a home with the Washington Wizards.
The sample size is extremely small, with the 30-year-old able to suit up for just three games for his new team thus far, but nevertheless, it does appear that Thomas is on the right track towards resurrecting his NBA career.
Currently, the diminutive 5-foot-9 guard is averaging 16.3 points (on 46.2 percent shooting), 3.0 rebounds, and 7.3 assists, while also knocking down 2.7 three-pointers per game at a 40.0-percent clip. What's even more impressive is the fact that he is doing this in just 21.0 minutes off the Wizards bench.
Again, we need to emphasize the fact that Thomas has played in just three games for Washington after missing the team's first couple of games due to a minor thumb issue. With this in mind, we will also need to give credit where it is due, and at this point, Thomas is looking as good as he has in years.
Unfortunately for the Wizards, though, Thomas' impressive play has had little to no impact in terms of the team's ability to win ball games. Washington has lost all three games since Thomas joined the lineup, but it would simply be inaccurate to fault the feisty veteran for his team's recent losing streak.
The fact of the matter is that the Wizards are just a really bad team right now, and already, they are looking like a lottery-bound team. This might actually be a good thing for Thomas, as he should be provided with all the minutes he can handle moving forward. The two-time All-Star is currently on a one-year, $2.3 million deal with Washington, so it's not as if the team will be overly concerned with his future with the franchise. Don't get us wrong, though, the Wizards won't be reckless with Thomas and his well-documented injury history, it's just that they should be able to freely give the guy the green light to play whenever he is, at the very least, close to 100 percent healthy.
And this, needless to say, will be the most important aspect of Thomas' attempt to revive his seemingly dwindling down career with the Wizards. He has proven in the past that he is very much capable of putting up some huge numbers, and while he is no longer expected to return to his All-Star form with the Boston Celtics, Thomas should still prove to be an effective backup point guard in the league. So long as he is able to stay on the court, there's no reason to believe that the former All-NBA team member will be able to maintain the pace he has currently set.
If all goes according to plan, Thomas might just be able to up his stock this year, and perhaps sign one final big-money deal next summer when he becomes a 31-year-old unrestricted free agent.
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