Isaiah Thomas made his Mavs debut Wednesday, finishing with 6 points in 13 minutes off the bench.
The Dallas Mavericks added former All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas to their roster on Wednesday via a 10-day contract under the NBA’s COVID-related hardship allowance. He arrived just in time to suit up for the Mavs in their 95-94 road loss to the Sacramento Kings.
For Thomas, this marked his second team this season after he had played for the Los Angeles Lakers on a similar circumstance just weeks ago.
Thomas might have been wearing a Mavericks jersey but the crowd at Golden 1 Center did its best to make him feel at home. Thomas spent his first three NBA seasons in Sacramento after being the final pick of the 2011 draft and was greeted with a rousing ovation when he entered the game in the first quarter.
Fans didn’t jeer Thomas when the 32-year-old shot an airball on his first shot of the night, and applauded when he connected on an 18-footer. The two-time All-Star, who played four games with the Lakers this month, had six points and four assists in 13 minutes.
IT is BACK. That’s it, that’s our tweet. pic.twitter.com/CTH6arqWKa
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 30, 2021
IT stepped onto the floor and got a standing ovation. Big props, @SacramentoKings 👏 pic.twitter.com/BoaWkmkWPt
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 30, 2021
“These players coming in on these hardship deals is a tough thing to do, especially what he did today, to fly in and go straight to work,” Mavs guard Jalen Brunson said. “This fan base here, they love him. He’s one of those players, wherever he goes he’s going to get a lot of love.”
The 5-foot-9 Thomas is an 11-year NBA veteran with career averages of 18.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 28.8 minutes in 532 games (362 starts) with Sacramento, Phoenix, Boston, Cleveland, the L.A. Lakers, Denver, Washington and New Orleans. He recently signed a 10-day contract with the Lakers on Dec. 17 and averaged 9.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 25.3 minutes in four games in his second stint with the franchise.
Game Recap: Kings 95, Mavericks 94
Thomas enjoyed his best statistical seasons as a member of the Boston Celtics, where he was a two-time All-Star (2016, ’17) and averaged 24.7 ppg, 6.0 apg and 1.0 spg with the franchise. His best season came in 2016-17, when he put up 28.9 ppg and finished third in the league in scoring, was fifth in Kia MVP voting and was an All-NBA second team member.
A native of Tacoma, Wash., Thomas played three seasons at the University of Washington, where he was named First Team All-Pac-10 as both a sophomore and a junior (2010, 2011). Thomas also earned Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-Pac-10 honors for the Huskies (2009).
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
