3. He is coming off of a major injury
When Thomas was at full strength two seasons ago playing with the Boston Celtics, he was one of the best scorers in all of basketball and an MVP candidate. But the problem is that he has been dealing with hip issues since he went down in the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals.
He elected to pass on surgery the offseason after that injury and he ended up missing the beginning of last season waiting to heal. When he did make his debut with the Cavaliers, he did not look like the player that averaged over 28 points per game the year before.
Just when he started to look healthy later in the year with the Lakers, the injury bug bit him again and he started to have more trouble with his right hip. This discomfort caused him to miss the end of the season and have the surgery that he tried to avoid the last offseason.
Dr. Bryan Kelly of The Hospital For Special Surgery told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, that the procedure Thomas had was “a minimally invasive procedure to ‘clean up’ the joint of all inflammatory debris related to his injury from last season.”
The operation was successful and Thomas’ time to rehab was deemed to be four months. That timetable will make him available for the start of next season.
Thomas will have to prove that he is still the same player he was before this operation, especially since his game is predicated on his agility and his ability to blow past defenders.
The Lakers apparently did not have the time to wait and see if he could return to form, and they are pretty set at both guard positions. It was a better move for both parties to let Thomas find a bigger role with another team to get back into shape and earn a bigger contract next offseason.