Los Angeles Lakers should take a long look at Matt Thomas
Editor’s note: Matt Thomas has reportedly signed with a team in Spain.
Despite a slow start, Matt Thomas emerged as a key factor in Los Angeles Lakers’ Summer League championship run.
The Los Angeles Lakers are back in business. After a slow 0-2 start, they went on a 4-0 run to win the Summer League championship. Although it is just Summer League this is a solid starting point for L.A.’s new management, which reiterated more than once its commitment to excellence at every level and to create a winning culture.
Lonzo Ball won Summer League MVP and Kyle Kuzma was the championship game MVP, but there is another member, flying under the radar, who helped the team reach this accomplishment. He was a pleasant as well as unexpected surprise alongside his heralded first-round-selected teammates.
Matt Thomas, a former Cyclone, after three years at Iowa State, went undrafted in this past Draft and was subsequently added to Lakers Summer League roster with the chance to showcase himself for a spot in the NBA.
Joining Iowa State as a top-100 national recruit, in his Junior season the 6’5″ guard averaged 8.1 points shooting 41.1 percent from three-point. The latter data is certainly what struck the most L.A.’s executives and made them decide to give him a shot.
He played poorly in his first five games and saw limited action, despite starting two of them, averaging 3.4 points in 12.7 minutes and shooting a combined 21.7 percent from the long range.
Something changed in the quarterfinal game. Facing the Brooklyn Nets, Thomas suddenly remembered who he was and what skill earned him a spot in the landscape of NBA young promises. He went for 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals, shooting 3-4 for three and an overall 6-9 from the field with a game-high +20 in Plus/Minus.
Certainly a wake-up call for the 22-year-old who went on scoring 20 points in the semifinal game, making six out of seven threes, and then scored 23 in the championship game with a perfect five-for-five from beyond the arc and eight-for-nine from the field.
In the final three games, he had an average of 20 points shooting an impressive 87.5 percent from three with 16 threes attempted. This performance looks enough to grant him a training camp invitation with L.A.
“Iceman”, as he was nicknamed in high school, is exactly the kind of player Luke Walton looks for. A shooting guard who does not need to have the ball too much in his hands but able to hit threes consistently and ready to shoot the ball each time he can set the feet. There is something of Thompsonesque in the way he stops and pops with confidence in transition with his straight and smooth shooting form.
Lakers should really think hard about signing him. Though not immediately NBA ready, Thomas can prove a valuable asset. If he remains a reliable shooter in real NBA game and is able to provide sustainable defense, he could become a major piece in Lakers’ future. Especially if we consider that the perspective to sign two max free agents next summer would leave L.A. without the space to retain Caldwell-Pope or sign another high-profile shooting guard.
Probably, Magic and Pelinka should consider to give him the second two-way contract they have at their disposal. It would allow them to let Thomas receive plenty of playing time in G-League with the South Bay Lakers without the risk to lose him by receiving call-ups from other teams. Furthermore, he could spend 45 days in the NBA.
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At the moment, Matt Thomas finds himself in the limbo of undrafted free agents and still has a long way to go before he can call himself an NBA player. Yet, during this Summer League tournament, he definitely proved to have the skillset which can grant him a chance in today’s NBA.