Los Angeles Lakers: Why they’ll end up keeping Isaiah Thomas
By Keith Rivas
Playing in Los Angeles will show he plays better with a purpose
Isaiah Thomas has made it clear that he’s not a fan of doing something that serves no purpose. Playing his heart out for the city of Boston, and then getting traded as well as giving what he can off of a serious injury to Cleveland, but then getting dealt before the All-Star break serve as stark reminders of the business side of the NBA.
As long as the Los Angeles Lakers can show some stability in terms of being invested in him, they will have less problems than if they were to take another course of action.
Getting behind Thomas with verbal support along with some emotional support as well will go a long way to determining what the relationship between the guard and the purple and gold will look like moving forward.
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Before he had resentment towards the Boston front office for sending him to the Cavs, Thomas found himself in the MVP discussion because he was able to give his all for a team that he thought, at least for the moment, was on his side.
By playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, this will be the third Pacific Division team in Thomas’ career (Phoenix, Sacramento). This, in a way, is a familiar place that will allow him to show us if he can really grow from past chances with other teams in his career that didn’t go exactly as he might’ve wanted them to.
Showing the stability that Thomas needs in order to focus on strictly basketball isn’t going to be all peaches and cream for the Lakers, though. If anything, this means that they’ll need to have a stronger back bone than they’ve had under their current front office.
Dealing with LaVar Ball, going after players that will make them a contender sooner than later, and also a sense of assurance when it comes to not having major coaching changes as the young core develops around Thomas.
Again, this isn’t necessarily going to end badly for the Lakers. But like everything else, they need to proceed with caution.