This season the Lakers are really ill-fated, the run-in between the teams at the beginning of the season has a problem, the big three have been difficult to find a way to coexist, the cooperation between the three people is very strange, it is not easy to experience the cooperation of the three people after almost a quarter of the schedule, the cooperation of the three people always has advantages, the atmosphere within the team has also been eased, and the team is gradually on the right track. But God is going to make a joke with the Lakers, Westbrook, Dwight Howard, Malik Munch, Horton Tucker, Avery Bradley and Austin Rivers A total of 6 people triggered the safety and health agreement to be isolated, not only the players are unable to play, even the Lakers coaching staff Phil Handy is also isolated, plus the Lakers' two major injured members Nunn and Ariza, the Lakers can now play only 9 players, the team really has no hands to rotate, The team signed Isaiah Thomas to a short 10-day contract using difficult exceptions.
Before the Game of the Lakers and Timberwolves, because Westbrook lifted the quarantine and returned to the team, Vogel had no intention of letting Thomas Jr. play, and if it were not for Westbrook's foul trouble, Thomas Jr. would probably not have been able to get playing time. At the beginning of the second quarter, Westbrook had already made three fouls, Vogel had to replace Westbrook for protection, Thomas Jr. got the opportunity to play, Thomas Jr. was quite positive, and finally Thomas Jr. played 21 minutes, 5 of 12 shots, including 6 of 6 three-pointers, 7 of 9 free throws, 19 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block 0 turnovers. These 19 points are not all rubbish time brushed, Thomas Jr. performance in regular time is very impressive, it is worth mentioning that these 19 points are the highest scores in the whole team, the same Little Thomas's plus-minus -1 is the third in the whole team, ranking first among the Lakers players who played more than 20 minutes, it can be said that in this game, Thomas Jr. is one of the few highlights of the Lakers, and even the only player who performs well.
In the game, the most impressive is still the three defenses of Thomas Jr. on the inside line, Thomas Jr. knows that there is a big gap between him and the other side, but he still pounces on it without hesitation, a vertical jump to create physical contact, two times the eye quickly cut the ball, completed each successful defense, at least we see a player who wants to compete on the field, a player who tries to play actively, it can be said that the arrival of Thomas Jr. injected some vitality into this old Lakers. In the time of Thomas Jr.'s play, the Lakers once chased the point difference to single digits, and there was no such thing as everyone thought that the defensive end was targeted very badly, nor did he kill eight hundred self-inflicted losses, he and Rondo, Westbrook, James can coexist, it is true that a game does not explain anything, but in this case, Thomas Jr. is fully capable of becoming a regular rotation player, and the most important thing is that Thomas Jr.'s mentality has really changed a lot.
Thomas Jr. has also been the boss of the team, and he has also tasted the taste of the king, I believe that fans still remember the 175 in the playoffs who lost his loved ones but still struggled, if it were not for the fact that Thomas Jr. was too high at that time, he would be one of the most inspirational players in the NBA. Successfully blinding Thomas Jr., Stevens built a system around Thomas Jr. perfectly covered up Thomas Jr.'s shortcomings, and everyone remembered Thomas Jr.'s words: "If the Celtics want to renew my contract, they have to come in a truck." Thomas Jr. was indeed qualified to say this sentence, no player like him could become the third in the MVP selection, those years Thomas Jr. was still the king of the last quarter, it was a pity that Thomas Jr. and Sprewell were all paid for their youth, Angie did not drive the truck over, he sent Thomas Jr. to the Cavaliers, probably because of a momentary difficulty in accepting such a fact, Thomas Jr. became a thorn, he made a big fuss about the Cavaliers locker room, publicly accused Wade, which also opened his wandering career, It's hard to believe that Thomas Jr., who was an MVP candidate the year before, would have no ball to play.
Thomas Jr. completely faded out of the league after making three appearances for the Pelicans in the 20-21 season, during which Thomas Jr. has been active on social media, he has been paying attention to the NBA, from his daily dynamics we see Thomas Jr.'s strong desire to continue playing, in a semi-professional game Thomas Jr. cut 81 points, back in the room Thomas Jr. covered his face and cried: "They gave up on me, they gave up on me!" It is hard to believe what thomas jr.'s mood was like at that time, the little Thomas who suddenly fell from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley is really sad, and it is clear that he had the opportunity to get a contract of tens of millions, and maybe Thomas Jr. will have a good time in the Green Army. Although he did not receive any team contracts in the offseason, Thomas Jr. has been working hard to return to the league, he has tried for the Lakers, Lone Rangers, Warriors and other teams, even if he did not get a contract in the end, he still resolutely chose to join the development league, and got 42 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists in his debut, his excellent performance still helped him stand on the NBA stage again.
The Lakers' current roster is full, and if Thomas Jr. can come up with such an excellent performance in these 10 days, then he definitely deserves a formal contract, but the possibility of the Lakers keeping Thomas Jr. is very small. Now the Lakers lineup is not lacking guards, especially after the comeback of Nunn, the Lakers defenders can put together two tables of mahjong, now the Lakers lack is the wing, if you really want to cut a thousand people then the Lakers are more likely to supplement the wings, in the Timberwolves game the Lakers once put up a lineup of Rondo + Westbrook + Thomas Jr., this scene is really sad, now there is really no wing in the lineup can play. Every game to give Thomas Jr. enough playing time and the ball, he can definitely contribute 15+ points, but Thomas Jr. is not what the team needs for the current Lakers offense, the team already has Westbrook + James + Davis + Munch, the people who need the ball, Thomas Jr. can only have problems in the allocation of ball rights after the lineup is ready, and Thomas Jr. will not help the Lakers' defense in any way, even if his current defensive attitude is very positive.
So the Lakers can now use Thomas Jr. as a firefighter, but the Lakers after the lineup is complete does not need Thomas Jr. too much, rather than cutting people to leave Thomas Jr., the Lakers should wait until there are better wings or interior signings in the market, which is more helpful to supplement the lineup, so we can see that Thomas Jr. may only have ten days in purple gold. But if Thomas Jr. seizes the opportunity, I believe he will no longer worry about not finding a job, even if the Lakers can't stay, there will be other teams to give Thomas Jr. a formal contract, in terms of the attitude and state he is showing now, Thomas Jr. is definitely worth a rotation position.