After years of the Kings’ management seeming to just not believe in him and bringing in guy after guy to take his job, Isaiah Thomas wanted to be wanted as a free agent this summer. Sure, he wanted to get paid, money is king, but part of attracting a free agent is making him feel like your organization cares and really wants him to be part of it.
Thomas was hoping that could happen with the Lakers.
Instead he ended up forming one of the more interesting and potentially dangerous backcourts in the NBA in Phoenix — with Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe — but Thomas told Zach Lowe of Grantland he wanted to be a Laker.
I heard you had a strong interest in signing with the Lakers.
Yeah, I did….
First off, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers. Who wouldn’t want to play for them? Second off, I felt like they always needed a point guard — a small guard like myself. I always envisioned myself playing with the Lakers, but like you said, they were waiting on Carmelo and other moves. The Suns came out of nowhere and showed a lot of interest, and I fell in love with them.
The Lakers were swinging for the fences this summer (as they will next summer) but when they went Adam Dunn and struck out again, they started looking for guys to bring in on short contracts — they want to keep their flexibility going forward. Thomas wants to get paid and get some security. There wasn’t much of a fit there.
But damn could the Lakers use the spark of Thomas. Los Angeles fans would have loved him. Frankly he’d be the second best scorer on that team. A spark plug — and the Lakers need a spark. But Los Angeles has its plan.
