In the final stages of the regular season, the Suns signed Thomas Jr. on a 10-day contract to bolster him, and finally made a regularization, giving Thomas Jr. a formal contract until the end of the season. But unfortunately, it didn't take long for Thomas Jr. to lose his job again, because the Suns were swept by the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, ending the season early. This NBA trip was too short and there were not many opportunities, and Thomas Jr. did not get a chance to show. He is 35 years old this year and will be 36 next season, and it is possible that he will never be able to return to the NBA after this unemployment. How much does Thomas Jr. make in the NBA at the age of 35? How high is the pension?
In the 2010 draft, Thomas Jr. was selected by the Kings with the 30th pick in the second round, which is the last pick, although the starting point is not high, but Thomas Jr. should really be glad that he did not lose, at least directly into the NBA. At that time, the Kings were in a rebuilding period, and the outside line already had the best rookie Evans, so it was not to choose the core players on the outside, but just to choose Thomas Jr. with the mentality of giving it a try, to see if he could scratch the grand prize, the rookie contract was only 3 years and 2.11 million, which was completely the price of cabbage.
Unexpectedly, Thomas Jr.'s performance was surprisingly good, and he was able to deliver 11.5 points and 4.1 assists in his rookie year, and gradually became the team's starter. In the second year, the score rose to 13.9 points, and in the third year, the score broke through 20 points. Thomas Jr. has completely established himself in the NBA, and he won the favor of the Suns and poached him with a four-year, 27 million contract. At that time, this was already a big contract, you must know that Curry was only 4 years and 44 million.
But the Suns have too many problems, and they have several point guards at the same time, and the ball is unevenly distributed, and even internal contradictions have arisen. Thomas Jr. was sent to Boston by the Suns after only half a season, but he also started the peak of his career. In the Green Army, he met Coach Stevens, who was a tactical genius who maximized Thomas Jr.'s talent on the offensive end while hiding him on the defensive end. In the 2016-17 season, Thomas Jr. averaged 28.9 points per game, ranked second on the scoring list, and was the league's king of the final quarter and was selected to the second team, and in the playoffs, he scored 53 points in a single game and became famous.
It was such an outstanding performance that made Thomas Jr.'s heart begin to swell, and even mistook the platform for ability, he refused the Celtics' 70 million contract renewal, insisted on asking for a maximum salary of 100 million yuan, and also claimed that Anji, the general manager at the time, had to drive a cash car to renew his contract. As a result, Thomas Jr. was traded for Owen as a bargaining chip. After that, the Cavaliers, the Lakers, the Nuggets, the Clippers, the Wizards, the Pelicans, the Hornets, the Mavericks, and sometimes they had to change teams several times a year, but they couldn't stay for too long. Before being called by the Suns this time, Thomas Jr. had not played an NBA game for nearly 2 years. So, this is his last chance.
In his 12-year career, he earned a total of $35.99 million, which is not as much as the current supergiant's annual salary, and it can only be said that time is also fate, if Thomas Jr. had not been too greedy to accept the contract extension back then, his career would definitely be completely different. But fortunately, he has played in the NBA for 12 years and will have a maximum pension, which can be $63,688 per year after the age of 50, which is enough to live a high-quality life.