Isaiah Thomas of the Los Angeles Lakers is confident that he will be back to normal after his most recent surgery.
It has not been an easy year for Los Angeles Lakers guard Isaiah Thomas. After a great 2016-17 season with the Boston Celtics, Thomas had to undergo a hip surgery at the end of the season. As expected after a major surgery, Thomas missed a good chunk of time in the regular season this year.
However, what wasn’t expected was that he would be doing his recovering as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In a trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston, the Celtics sent an injured Thomas a part of a package to the Cavaliers.
When Thomas was healthy enough to get back on the court, he was still not 100 percent back to the level we saw with the Celtics. As the Cavaliers were reshaping their roster, Thomas was traded to the Lakers.
As a free agent, Thomas certainly wanted to prove what he could do, but his time with the Lakers was cut short, as he needed another hip surgery. Recently, Thomas was on the Chris and Caron Show and spoke about where this most recent surgery will put him for next year. Here’s what Thomas said with text via LakersNation.com.
"“Yeah, right around July. It was a four-month recovery process. I’m at two months right now, so when it hits the 12-week mark, I’ll be cleared to do all basketball activities. I actually got cleared this week to be able to shoot and work out. It’s slowly coming along, it’s all positive. I’m happy with the decision I made. This is going to help me get back to where I belong.”"
Getting healthy is certainly the most important thing for Thomas this offseason. As we saw last season, Thomas lacked the explosiveness that we saw in his MVP-caliber season with the Celtics.
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While he did show some glimpses with the Lakers, Thomas was nowhere near the player that he was the year prior. Since he is coming off of surgery, the free agent market will likely not be what Thomas wants it to be. Even though he might think he is worth a long-term deal, most teams will likely be offering him a prove it deal. Hopefully, Thomas is able to come back at full strength and play well next season whether that is for the Lakers or someone else.