Los Angeles Lakers: What Isaiah Thomas means to the team

Now that Isaiah Thomas is a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, what will he mean to the team moving forward?

When the Los Angeles Lakers traded Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr to Cleveland last week, most attention focused on two aspects of the deal:

• By eliminating their future obligation to pay Clarkson’s contact (and to a more limited extent, Nance’s), and taking back two contracts that will expire after this season, the Lakers created enough cap space for two elite free agents either this summer or in 2019. But, just because they have cap room doesn’t mean they’ll actually sign a couple of stars.

• The Lakers also received the Cavs’ first-round draft pick, a selection which should end up in the early or mid-20’s. The hope is that the team can repeat its success over the past few years when they chose several quality players with late first-round & early second-round picks. Of course, there’s no guarantee they will once again hit pay dirt.

However, not much has been said about another part of the trade that might prove to be of major importance to the Lakers. They received back two-time All-Star Isaiah Thomas, who just last year had a tremendous season, leading Boston to the best record in the East. IT averaged nearly 29 points (third in the NBA), six assists a game, shot 46% overall and 38% from the 3-point line, and was particularly effective in the fourth quarter. The 5’9″ guard even finished 5th in the MVP voting.

In last season’s playoffs, however, Thomas suffered a bad hip injury that caused him to miss the final three games. Then in the offseason, he was part of a major trade that sent him to Cleveland and disgruntled star Kyrie Irving to the Celtics.

His hip took time to heal, and he had to sit out much of this season. IT returned to play just 15 games for the Cavs, averaging under 15 points while shooting just 36% from the field and 25% on 3’s. He clearly (and predictably) was not a good fit for a relatively slow-paced offense dominated by LeBron James.

A Southern California native, Thomas is thrilled to be a Laker, where the fast-paced offense fits him perfectly. But legitimate questions can be asked about Thomas, including:

1. Has he completely recovered from his injury? Can he once again be a dynamic offensive force?
It’s too soon to know the answer. In his initial game with the Lakers on Friday night, Thomas looked great on offense, much better than he had with Cleveland. Obviously, that’s a very small sample, but his play over the rest of the season should provide clarity.

2. What kind of teammate will he be for the young Lakers? And how well can he and Lonzo Ball play together in the backcourt?

Hopefully, Ball will soon recover from his own injury and return to the Lakers lineup. Normally a team wouldn’t want to pair two ball-dominant guards together, but there are a few examples where the combination has succeeded quite well.

In Portland, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum currently form a dynamic duo. In the Showtime era of the 80s, the Lakers won two titles with Magic Johnson and Norm Nixon in the backcourt. And going back a bit further, future Hall-of-Fame guards Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe combined forces to befuddle defenses and help the Knicks win a title in 1973.

The point is that although a backcourt of Ball and IT doesn’t seem to be ideal, it’s at least possible that it could work. Magic in particular seems enthusiastic about the prospect, and said that the team will play them together once Ball returns.

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3. Will his less-than-average defense offset his scoring?

This is a somewhat stickier question. Coach Luke Walton has made defense a priority for the Lakers this season, and their improvement has been obvious. But Thomas has always been a defensive liability, and not just because of his short stature.

Last year, however, the Celtics ranked in the top half of the NBA defensively in both points per game and field goal percentage allowed. That was with IT on the court for nearly 34 minutes per game. Again, time will tell how he impacts the Lakers defense. It might help that they can bring Josh Hart in when they need a defensive stopper, in much the same way the Showtime Lakers used Michael Cooper.

Johnson and Rob Pelinka talked about how much flexibility the team now has. Depending on the answers to these questions, Thomas just might give them something else to think about.
If IT checks all the right boxes, they would have to at least consider offering him a new large, multi-year contract. Alternatively, if there’s not enough time left this season to draw definite conclusions, they could try to sign him to a big one-year contract, similar to what Kentavious Caldwell-Pope agreed to this season, and then see what happens.

Next: Were the Lakers winners at the trade deadline?

The acquisition of Isaiah Thomas might prove to be just a short-term rental, as many believe. But, it also is possible that the Lakers have just added a star player to their roster, one who just might be worthy of one of those big contract slots.

All statistics courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com.