Isaiah Thomas has had a couple of rough seasons following his MVP-worthy campaign with the Boston Celtics in 2016/17. He struggled with injuries and never managed to get to a similar level during his stints with Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. But, this doesn’t mean Thomas will stop trying.
“Nobody knew what to expect with me coming off hip surgery last year, and two summers of rehab,” – Thomas recently told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. “Now I can go back to being a gym rat this summer, work on my game again and build my body back up — my muscle mass, my leg strength — all like I had going into the 2017 season.”
Thomas signed with the Nuggets last summer and ended up spending the first part of the season rehabbing from the hip surgery. The 30-year-old guard made his debut with Denver in February and was expected to be a valuable contributor.
Still, as the Nuggets established themselves as a force in the West, Thomas saw his role being reduced to a bench warmer and fell out of the rotation. He ended the regular season with only 12 games played in which he averaged 8.1 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.1 rebounds. Despite this, however, he still appreciates the chance Denver gave him.
“Denver allowed me to take really as much time as I needed, to get back to 100 percent health,” – he explained. “When I look at it from the outside, I understood it. I missed 50 games, the team was having a hell of a season, and it wasn’t easy to just squeeze me in there when so many guys were playing so well. They didn’t want to mess up what they had going. I understood it.”
Now Thomas will try making a fresh start once again and is focused on finding a team that will give him a chance to return to the top level.
“I’m going to get back to a level that I was playing at,” – Thomas added. “I’m excited to show what I can do again.”
