- Isaiah Thomas averaged 28.9 points per game during the 2016-17 season despite being only 5’9
- He agreed with a post that said his historical achievement is not fully appreciated
- Isaiah Thomas questioned whether something like that would ever happen again
Isaiah Thomas has one of the saddest stories in the modern NBA. After breaking out with the Boston Celtics and becoming an All-Star, Thomas’ injuries stopped him from getting a huge contract.
During the 2016-17 season though, Isaiah Thomas was something special. He averaged 28.9 points per game and made the All-NBA Second Team. But he doesn’t think that his achievement that year is fully appreciated.
Replying to a post on X, Thomas wrote, “It’s not, but it’s all good! My peers respect and appreciate it more than anything and that’s what matters most… Will it ever happen again? We will seeeee.”
The original post read, “I don’t think the craziness of a 5’9” player averaging 28.9 points in an NBA season is fully appreciated.”
It’s not, but it’s all good! My peers respect and appreciate it more than anything and that’s what matters most… Will it ever happen again? We will seeeee https://t.co/Whxwry1vln
— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) September 22, 2023
Isaiah Thomas achieving what he did should be impossible. Only three other NBA players under 6’0 have ever averaged 20 points per game in the league, and none of them did so in the modern era. Isaiah Thomas has by far the highest-scoring season of any player under 6’0.
Isaiah Thomas Thinks He Could Have Won MVP That Season
Isaiah Thomas was unstoppable on the offensive end during the 2016-17 season, he averaged 28.9 points, 5.9 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.9 steals per game. And Isaiah Thomas thinks he could have been MVP that season too.
“In that season like, all respect to Westbrook too. If he didn’t average a triple-double, I probably would have gotten MVP,” Thomas said. “He was the first player to average a triple-double since Oscar Robertson. My team was No. 2 in the league, I averaged 29 at 5’9.”
Isaiah Thomas also added, “Like that ranks, to me, no other small dude does it. Except AI. You know what it was? I just figured it out. I knew next year I was going to average 34. Like, I knew if I didn’t get injured, I was gonna do it. I knew.”
He led the Boston Celtics to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and even took them to the Eastern Conference Finals in the playoffs. There aren’t many players in the league’s history that can claim to have had a season that successful.
J. R. Smith Says Isaiah Thomas Is Among The Players That Have Been Blackballed From The NBA
Isaiah Thomas last played in the NBA in 2022 and has been out of the league for a whole season. It seems that the former Celtics All-Star continues to be underrated.
This is not for a lack of trying, Isaiah Thomas has said time and again that he wishes to make a return to the league. But according to J. R. Smith, Thomas is among a few players that have been blackballed from the league.
“Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, anybody can sit here and tell you that that’s a fact… I feel like it’s a whole genre that happened too. Joe Johnson, who obviously still got game, still plays.
“Jamal Crawford, still got game, still can play. Nick Young, still got game, still can play. Isaiah Thomas, still got game, still can play.”
Whether he ever gets a chance to play at the NBA level again or not, Isaiah Thomas’ iconic 2016-17 season should always get the love it deserves. To do that at 5’9 is something that can never truly be appreciated enough.
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