Los Angeles Lakers: Three reasons why the Lakers will never re-sign Isaiah Thomas

Isaiah Thomas made his Los Angeles Lakers debut Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks. Despite his strong performance, Thomas is still nothing more than a rental.

I will admit, Isaiah Thomas did a lot better in his Los Angeles Lakers debut than I anticipated. Thomas has not been good on the Cleveland Cavaliers this season and issues around coming off of the bench plagued Thomas before he even stepped foot on the court as a Laker.

However, despite coming off of the bench behind Josh Hart, Thomas had a solid performance off of the bench for the Lakers scoring 22 points off of seven of 12 shooting with six assists in 31 minutes of play. Despite Thomas’ strong performance, the Lakers fell to the league-worst Mavericks 130-123.

Thomas’ debut as a Laker has received mixed reviews thus far. Some have seen enough in his 31 minutes as a Laker to declare that he is enough to make them a playoff team. Others, with the Cavs’ tenure fresh in their minds, realize that Thomas needs to show more in the purple and gold before they fully buy in.

Some aren’t even impressed.

However, I would argue that regardless of his season performance, Isaiah Thomas will not be returning to the Los Angeles Lakers next season. Although he does bring star power to the Lakers and very well could carry them to the postseason this year, there are three reasons why Thomas ultimately is still just a rental.