Los Angeles Lakers: Predicting where each free agent will sign
By Jason Reed
Isaiah Thomas: Indiana Pacers
To be fair, the Indiana Pacers do have a decent amount of point guards on the roster next season, including 2018 first-round pick Aaron Holiday. However, with Darren Collison and Cory Joseph both on expiring deals, the Pacers could move either for another asset or simply may be looking to add a good guard to play alongside Victor Oladipo.
Plus, the second-best shooting guard on the roster is probably Lance Stephenson, so adding Thomas would give the Pacers an overall better frontcourt rotation.
The partnership of Oladipo and Thomas has the potential to be very dangerous, especially if Thomas is at full health next season and can come close to his 2016 production on the Boston Celtics.
The Pacers have an elite defending guard alongside Thomas in Oladipo as well as other scoring options and a very talented big man in Miles Bridges. With this pressure off of Thomas, he and Oladipo would begin to thrive together both as off-ball and on-ball scorers.
In terms of pure fit, the Indiana Pacers may be the best outlook for Thomas. While they cannot pay Thomas the same money that other teams with space can pay, Thomas likely is not getting much due to his injury concerns.
Thus, Thomas can sign a two-year deal with a third-year team option (that has a nice uptick in salary) that will allow him to prove himself without committing long-term to the Pacers.