Despite coping with injuries and struggling to gain playing time in the past 18 months, Nuggets guard Isaiah Thomas is confident the process will turn around for the better, Marc Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated writes. Thomas, 30, will become an unrestricted free agent in July.
“I’m blessed. I know it’s going to turn at one point,” Thomas told The Undefeated. “I worked too hard for it not to. It’s always been like that in my career. I’ve seen this story before. I’ve seen this page, I’ve seen this chapter, and I know what’s gonna happen in the end. I’m going to take it back to the top, and then people are going to all show that fake love again. That’s all it is.
“It’s just a bump in the road that I hit, and like I’ve said about Nipsey [Hussle], it’s a marathon. You just got to keep running, keep running the race and keep working hard.”
Thomas played just 12 games with the Nuggets this season and 32 total games the season before with Cleveland and Los Angeles, working to get back to full strength after undergoing a major hip surgery last March.
It was just two years ago that he was leading the Celtics to a deep postseason run, cementing himself as one of the top point guards in the league. For Thomas, he hopes to be able to play basketball for several more seasons and extend his career until he turns 40.
“Oh, hell no,” Thomas said when asked if he considered retiring last year. “I’m playing until I’m 40. … I want to play until I can’t no more. For sure.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division tonight:
- Jazz guard Kyle Korver is dealing with some concerning knee pain ahead of Sunday’s Game 1 against the Rockets, tweets Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. Korver, who’s listed as available to play, appeared to cut short a normal shooting workout on Saturday due to the pain. Korver shot 38% from behind-the-arc in 54 games this season with Utah, averaging 20.1 minutes per contest off the bench.
- Joe Freeman of The Oregonian labels five storylines to watch in the Trail Blazers-Thunder series, including how Portland’s new starting five operates. The Blazers appear poised to start Enes Kanter in place of the injured Jusuf Nurkic for the rest of the postseason, with Kanter tallying 20 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks in a Game 1 victory against the Thunder on Sunday.
- Gary Harris could be the “X-Factor” for the Nuggets in their first-round series against the Spurs, Sean Keeler of the Denver Post writes. Harris, a prominent offensive option in Denver’s rotation, finished with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting in a Game 1 loss to San Antonio on Saturday. The Nuggets need his production to take back homecourt advantage from the Spurs, a talented team led by the likes of DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge.
Pistons do yourself a favor and scoop thomas next year! You will not regret it!
celtics will add him to their second unit with their bi-annual, let rozier walk via free agency
Maybe but if another team is willing to offer him the same role or more I think he rejects boston after what they did to him.
The Blazers’ patch is so much better than the Thunders’. I don’t think OKC can win with that ridiculous bright yellow “Love’s”. What does this Love possess?– IDK and don’t care. I would like to be a more reasonable person but I’m not. I forgot Nurkic was out when I said Portland to the level of 4 but they should take this series.
I remember when the Nets first got sponsorship from INFOR, a software company, it was initially bright red. It didn’t look good but that’s the logo’s color. They compromised and changed it to white on the away and black on the home jerseys. Love’s, a gas station convenience store, should have done the same.
Harris is gonna be very important, Jokic played a monster game for his playoff debut… but Murray was an unmitigated disaster, he better goes back to his normal self or Denver might be in trouble here.
Funny how the Spurs win one game and they’re back to being talented after most people thought this was the year it fell apart. Of course, they’ve been saying that for the last 5-6 years, it may just be time to accept that with Pop at the lead, the Spurs are always going to be a good team.
And RC Buford might be the best GM in the league. Either him, Jerry West or Danny Ainge. RC is the best drafter for sure.
Bring Isaiah to Phoenix to school these rookies. In dire need of a point guard then back Booker up with a schooly vet like him to school the new guys
Funny how all these former teams and fans are interested in him again. And all they want is for him to be a toy again for them to use and crap on when done. Lol