Sacramento Kings: Is Isaiah Thomas A Franchise Point Guard?

The Sacramento Kings have to make a decision this summer on Isaiah Thomas. He will be a restricted free agent coming off a 20-point and six-assist per game season. Thomas was the last pick in the 2011 draft, 50 picks after his current backup, Jimmer Fredette. Last season Thomas showed flashes of great play as he started 62 games for the Kings. He averaged 14 points and four assists in 27 minutes last season. To start this season Thomas was coming off the bench, then 19 games into the season he was inserted into the starting lineup for good. Now the Kings were rumored to have dangled Thomas in many different trades right before the deadline, so what does that mean for the Kings and Thomas moving forward? Essentially, the Kings can sign Thomas to a long-term deal or let him walk and sign with another team. Let’s take a look at some reasons to sign Thomas, and some to let him go.

The Good

When Thomas took over the starting point guard role at the beginning of December, he came out on fire. For that month he averaged 21 points and 7.8 assists, while shooting 47 percent overall and 43 percent from 3. Thomas currently ranks fourth among qualified point guards in points and sixth in field goal percentage. So with those stats, Thomas has a better shooting percentage than Kyrie Irving, John Wall and Damian Lillard. Furthermore, Thomas scores more points than Wall and is just one point behind Irving and Lillard. In addition, Thomas is 10th among point guards at 6.4 assists, that is more than both Irving and Lillard. I know that statistics don’t always tell the truth, but Thomas has had a great year all around worthy of a good contract. If you look at some of the other point guards around Thomas’ skills he would be looking at a deal of four to five years for around $45 million to $50 million. It would be very similar to Mike Conley‘s and Stephen Curry‘s.