NBA: 30 NBA players you forgot acted in movies or TV shows – Isaiah Thomas
Isaiah Thomas was the ultimate underdog, a 5’9″ point guard taken with the final pick of the 2011 NBA Draft — and by Sacramento, no less. The odds of Thomas succeeding in the NBA were basically nothing. Yet he did, becoming one of the league’s best point guard scorers, even making an All-NBA team in 2017.
In 2017 Thomas was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of the Kyrie Irving trade. Very shortly after that trade he was an official representative of his new team by…showing up for an episode of Law & Order: SVU.
The plot of the show was a young girl who was kidnapped being found 15 years later. The girl was a devoted Cleveland Cavaliers fan, and so the team (both in the show and presumably in real life) sent a player to represent them. Just weeks, perhaps just days, into his tenure with the Cavs he was representing the team and, in a way, the entire city of Cleveland on the show.
Was Thomas any good? No, no he was not. His acting role was to speak to the media at a press conference, something he does 82+ times a year. He couldn’t even handle that, needing to bring cue cards along with him to finish the incredibly brief segment. If Thomas is looking for a new career now that his NBA one is nearing the end, acting is not the place to look.