Isaiah Thomas · Biography

In February 2015 the Phoenix Suns traded Isaiah Jamar Thomas to the Boston Celtics for Marcus Thornton and a 2016 first-round pick. The point guard, born on 7 February 1989 in Tacoma, Washington, and listed at 5 ft 9 in, had been the last pick of the 2011 NBA Draft. In Boston he made two All-Star teams, and in 2016-17 he finished third in the league in scoring.

Tacoma, the name and Washington

His father, a Los Angeles Lakers fan, bet a friend that he would name a son after Detroit Pistons guard Isiah Thomas if the Lakers lost the 1989 NBA Finals. His mother agreed on condition that they use the biblical spelling. He played at Curtis Senior High School in University Place, averaging 31.2 points as a junior. He then repeated his senior year at South Kent School in Connecticut and graduated in 2008. At the University of Washington he was Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2009 after averaging 15.5 points, and in 2010 and 2011 he made the first-team All-Pac-10 and was named tournament MVP. On 12 March 2011 he scored 28 points against Arizona in the Pac-10 title game and won it with a buzzer-beater in overtime. He declared for the draft on 31 March 2011, giving up his senior season.

Sacramento and Phoenix

The Sacramento Kings took him 60th, the final pick of the 2011 draft. He made the All-Rookie Second Team in 2012 and worked his way into the starting lineup, averaging 20.3 points and 6.3 assists in 2013-14. On 12 July 2014 he moved to Phoenix in a four-year, $27 million sign-and-trade. With the Suns he came off the bench, and the season he split between Phoenix and Boston earned him second place in the 2015 Sixth Man of the Year voting.

Boston Celtics, 2015-2017

He made his playoff debut on 19 April 2015 with 22 points and 10 assists against Cleveland, in a series Boston lost 4-0. In 2015-16 he played all 82 games, averaged 22.2 points and was an Eastern Conference reserve at the 2016 All-Star Game, the lowest draft pick to get there since the draft was cut to two rounds in 1989. The 2016-17 season was the best of his career. On 30 December 2016 he scored 52 points against Miami, 29 of them in the fourth quarter, a franchise record for a single period. He made a second All-Star team and put together 43 straight games with at least 20 points, another Celtics record. He finished third in scoring at 28.9 points per game, made the All-NBA Second Team and placed fifth in MVP voting, with Boston first in the East at 53-29.

The 2017 playoffs

On 15 April 2017, the eve of the first-round series against Chicago, his younger sister Chyna died in a car accident in Washington state. He played the series, which Boston won in six games, and then flew to the funeral. In Game 2 of the conference semifinals against the Wizards he scored 53 points in a 129-119 overtime win, one short of John Havlicek’s franchise playoff record, and in Game 7 he added 29 points and 12 assists. He had hurt his right hip on 15 March 2017 against Minnesota; the injury flared up against Washington and again in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland, which ended his postseason. He chose rehabilitation over surgery.

The Irving trade and the hip

On 22 August 2017 Boston sent him to the Cleveland Cavaliers with Jae Crowder, Ante Žižić and Brooklyn’s 2018 first-round pick in exchange for Kyrie Irving. After Cleveland’s medical review of the hip, the Celtics added a 2020 second-round pick to complete the deal. He debuted for the Cavaliers on 2 January 2018 and was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers on 8 February. On 29 March 2018 he had arthroscopic surgery on the hip. He spent 2018-19 with the Denver Nuggets and 2019-20 with the Washington Wizards, who traded him to the Los Angeles Clippers on 6 February 2020; the Clippers waived him the next day. On 6 May 2020 he underwent hip resurfacing.

Ten-day contracts and the G League

He returned in April 2021 on a 10-day contract with the New Orleans Pelicans. That February he had played for the United States in the qualifiers for the 2022 FIBA AmeriCup. In December 2021 he scored 42 points in his G League debut for the Grand Rapids Gold, then had short stints with the Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks. In March 2022 the Charlotte Hornets signed him to two 10-day deals and then for the rest of the season, in which he played 17 games. In March 2024 he joined the Salt Lake City Stars, and on 20 March he signed with the Phoenix Suns, who kept him until the end of the season. He returned to the Stars in January 2025. Between 2011 and 2024 he played 556 NBA regular-season games, averaging 17.5 points and 4.8 assists. In May 2026 the Boston Celtics hired him as a pro and college scout based in Seattle.