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Isaiah Thomas facing cold free agency market?

As if recovering from hip surgery wasn’t bad enough, it appears Isaiah Thomas could be headed for a rather frustrating offseason. Between rehab, he’ll be trying to determine where his next NBA destination is. Figuring that out may be more difficult than he’d like it to be, though.

According to Sporting News‘ Sean Deveney, NBA shot-callers from around the league are concerned about the diminutive point guard’s long-term health and what a pricey contract could mean for the team that offers it.

"“Just given the way he played last year,” another NBA executive said, “I think you can’t go more than one year on him. Maybe you can do two years if you hold the second year at your option. That’s before you even get into whether he is healthy.” “I think everybody likes the guy,” one general manager said. “You root for him. But do you want to pay him $12 or 14 million when you know you’re also paying for all the headaches that his health could give you? Someone will get him, but it’s going to be a low-risk deal.”"

Thomas’ hip concerns have cost him a significant amount of games in the last year or so. He was forced out of the Boston Celtics’ late-postseason run last season, missed the first three months of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2017-18 campaign, and then sat out the Lakers’ final 11 games in March and April.

Teams are going to very wary of making any sort of investment in Thomas this offseason. Despite his unquestioned talent and ability to put the ball in the basket, it’s unclear what the future may hold for him. If the hip problems linger, he could end up wearing a suit on a nightly basis. That’s not really worth rolling the dice on, is it?

Expect Thomas to meet a cold market when free agency begins in July. It should take some time for a deal to materialize, and it probably won’t be the massive payday IT was hoping for.