The Washington Wizards signed Isaiah Thomas to a one-year deal in free agency this summer. Wizards head coach Scott Brooks believes Thomas is going to bring good veteran leadership to Washington next season and thinks the lefty can revive his career in the nation's capital.

Thomas will battle Ish Smith in training camp for Washington’s starting point guard spot. Wizards All-Star John Wall is expected to miss the entire 2019-20 season recovering from his Achilles tear.

“There are a couple of things I look at. I watched him last year. He got healthy towards the end of season, but they were rolling, they're like No. 1 ranked team in the West. And I watched their games. And I knew we were going to be looking for a point guard, and that guy showed so much leadership during games,” Brooks told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. “He was like an assistant coach. He was standing up directing traffic, coming on the court during timeouts and talking to the guys that were playing in front of him.

“And to me that's a sign of a winner. And that's not easy to do. I've been in that position for my entire career, and there were times I didn't want to cheer for my my teammates. But you have to, you've got to do what's right. And I saw that in him. Will he get it back? I'm not going to be a hater and say he will never get it back. That's not my wiring and that's not his wiring. He didn't get to the NBA thinking that he can't do it.”

Isaiah Thomas played with the Denver Nuggets last season, but fell out of the playing rotation and didn’t play at all during the 2019 playoffs.

The former All-Star averaged 8.1 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 12 regular season games while shooting 34.3 percent overall, 27.9 percent from the 3-point line and 63.0 percent from the charity stripe.

Hopefully, Thomas has a productive season with the Wizards so he can get a multi-year free agent deal next summer.