After a 10-day short contract with the Pelicans at the end of last season, Thomas Jr. was tragically unemployed, and there were European teams that threw an olive branch to him in the offseason, but Thomas Jr., who wanted to return to the NBA, finally chose to refuse, and after not long ago joined the Development League and cut the amazing data of 42 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists, he received a 10-day short contract from the Lakers, and as a result, in the first game of the Lakers and the Timberwolves, Thomas Jr. played in only 21 minutes. Slashed 19 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, and then played against the Bulls, also handing over 13 points, but Thomas Jr., who drove high and low, played crazy in the next two games, especially in the game against the Suns on December 22, shooting only 1 of 11 in the whole game, smashing the basket alive.
In those 4 games for the Lakers, Thomas Jr. averaged 9.3 points, 2 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, and during this period he did not taste any victory, at that time, many media also posted the statistics of Thomas Jr.'s 0 wins joining the Lakers team, and the result was directly affected by his old teammate Rudy Guy, directly on social media.
After the expiration of his 10-day contract with the Lakers, Thomas Jr. also became a free agent, but with his good performance in the first two games of the Lakers, he did improve the market for himself, coinciding with the Lone Ranger encountering the isolation of multiple backcourt players (Doncic, Hardaway Jr., Burke, Knight), the Lone Ranger also chose to throw an olive branch for it, when he received a call from lone ranger general manager Harrison, Thomas Jr. was shopping at a supermarket in Seattle, and when asked if he could play today, Thomas Jr. immediately gave a positive answer.
Earlier in the Mavericks and Kings game, Thomas Jr. also got a certain amount of playing time, in the 13 minutes of his appearance as a substitute, he shot 3 of 8, got 6 points and 4 assists, and did not make a single mistake, the overall performance was not bad, but the Lone Ranger was tragically killed by Kings center Meitu in the last minute, and finally lost 94-95. Counting the first game to join the Lone Ranger, Thomas Jr. has not tasted a single victory in four games in the two weeks after returning to the NBA, which is really regrettable.
As a mercenary with a 10-day contract, if you really want to throw the pot of the team's defeat on him, it is really not fair, the 4 games played for the Lakers, in addition to the game lost to the Suns, Thomas Jr. should indeed be mainly responsible, the other 3 games, in fact, have nothing to do with him, the team's chemistry is not good, the defense is a mess, and Thomas Jr. is not good at defense, the Lakers signed him only for emergency, supplement Bradley, Munch and others could not play because of the loopholes in isolation, and as a result, fans were still immersed in the traditional impression that Thomas Jr. was still an All-Star player, and after losing, they would put all the on his head, which really shouldn't be.
Joining the Lone Rangers this time is also the same situation as the Lakers, because of Doncic's absence, the Lone Rangers have also fallen into a serious low in the near future, their defense this season is also a big loophole, and today's ball is not the final stage of the defense of Meitu's players out of position, the Lone Rangers should have won, but the little Thomas did not fish in the last minute of playing time, but also blamed the team's loss on his head, the fans are really a little too extreme.