Los Angeles Lakers point guard Isaiah Thomas opted to undergo a surgery to repair his right hip and will need four months to recover. The Lakers announced that Thomas had a surgery on Thursday and confirmed the recovery time.
Isaiah Thomas has been struggling with a hip injury since the 2017 NBA Eastern Conference finals when he missed the Boston Celtics’ final two games of the series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He then joined the Cavaliers in the trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston, but he didn’t play until January, trying to rehab his hip. After returning to the basketball court, Thomas couldn’t replicate the performance from the 2017-18 season, when he was one of the MVP candidates. The Cavs then decided to trade Thomas to the Lakers, when he showed progress but was still far from being an impactful player.
Thomas is in the final year of his contract, and it is hard to expect that there will be a team ready to give him a long-term contract. He will probably sign a one-year deal and will have to prove he can get back to his old form. The Lakers might be the team willing to offer him that short-term deal, but just in case that they are not able to get LeBron James and/or Paul George.
Although he was viewed as a disruptive teammate in the Cavaliers locker room, it looks like Thomas was on a better behavior with the Lakers. The team’s head coach Luke Walton recently even praised the 29-year-old for his attitude.
“[Thomas] never complained,” – said Walton. “Every time I asked him how he was feeling, he said, ‘I feel great coach.’ Obviously, he was in some pain and had some discomfort. I didn’t know about it because he was always saying how good he felt. He really helped our team with obviously the way he can score the ball, but the things that does from a point guard position where he was constantly telling guys where to be, how to set the screen, where to set the screen, which is valuable for young players. I was very pleased with the time that he spent with us.“
