Lakers’ Isaiah Thomas to miss rest of season after he undergoes hip surgery on Thursday
Isaiah Thomas waited as long as he could.
More than a year after the Lakers’ guard initially tore the labrum in his right hip, Thomas will have arthroscopic surgery to treat the injury. It is the first surgery Thomas has had on the injury that wouldn’t heal through two trades in the last seven months.
“We will be doing a minimally invasive procedure to ‘clean up’ the joint of all inflammatory debris related to his injury from last season,” Dr. Bryan Kelly of the Hospital for Special Surgery said in a statement.
This ends a tumultuous season in which Thomas found peace and acceptance with the Lakers.
“Yeah, he was great,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said when asked whether the Lakers would have interest in Thomas in the offseason. “I mean, what a tough player he is. Never complained. Every time I asked him how he was doing, he said, ‘I feel great, Coach.’ Told him if you ever need practices off, whatever it is, take them. He was in here every day doing his thing. Obviously he was in some pain, had some discomfort, but I didn’t know about it because he was always saying how good he felt.”
Thomas initially tore the labrum in his right hip on March 15, 2017 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, when he played for the Boston Celtics.
He missed two games and then played the rest of the regular season. In the playoffs, he led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference finals.
Thomas played two games in the conference finals before the Celtics said in a release that he re-aggravated a “right femoral-acetabular impingement with labral tear.” That occurs when the bone and socket in the hip joint don’t fit properly together, hampering range of motion.
With Thomas out, the Cleveland Cavalier beat the Celtics in the conference finals, before losing to the Warriors in the Finals. Two months later, Cleveland sent disgruntled point guard Kyrie Irving to the Celtics as part of the trade that moved Thomas to the Cavaliers.
Thomas didn’t play for Cleveland until January. When he did, hampered by the injury, he struggled to return to the way he played the previous season, when he was an MVP candidate. His shooting numbers were the lowest of his career and his quickness diminished.
Off the court, Cleveland’s players and coaches sometimes chafed at Thomas’s criticisms.
Though he didn’t ask to be traded and wasn’t keen on a backup role, the move to the Lakers offered a fresh start. Over dinner with Walton when the team went to Dallas, Thomas and his new coach shared their expectations.
Where some of the veteran Cavaliers didn’t like his style, with the Lakers he was one of few veteran voices — something the team needed. Lonzo Ball reached out almost immediately to seek Thomas’ advice.
“He has been a really good leader for us,” Lakers forward Brandon Ingram said. “He has kind of been our vocal guy going into every single game, every single day, giving us pieces of advice how to be better every single day and our mind-set going into every single day.”
Last week, he told The Times that he would consider returning to the Lakers, given the opportunity, even in a backup role.
“I like it here,” Thomas added. “I like the situation I’m in, the system, coaching staff. Organization’s been great to me.”
Though never fully healthy with the Lakers, Thomas played in 17 games, starting in one, averaging 15.6 points.
His willingness to play through the injury in Boston and when he became a Laker impressed Walton, but it also was a cautionary tale to other players.
“You have to ask him about his story, but you always have to be cautious, especially for me, it is my second year,” Ingram said. “You always try to live in the moment, but you always think long term. You want to have a long career in this league. You got to be cautious at times and see where you are at in the season and try to make the best decision for yourself, sometimes be selfish for yourself.”
Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli
UPDATES:
12:20 p.m.: This article has been updated with news that Thomas will miss the rest of the season and comments from his coach and teammates.
This article was originally published at 11:05 a.m.
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