Isaiah Thomas Washington Wizards
Photo: Bleacher Report

Isaiah Thomas was selected by the Sacramento Kings as the last pick in the 2011 Draft. After 9 years, Thomas reflected on his decision, to enter the draft, through Mark J. Spears of the Undefeated.

The 2011 season was a lock-out year for the NBA, in which the teams played 65 games, while the season started in December.

Thomas is relating to many young players, who were ready to enter the 2020 NBA draft, but the season was put on hold because of the coronavirus outbreak. Thomas noted that the college players that are going to try to enter the league have to trust their gut and make the best decision for themselves.

“I would just tell them, ‘You got to make the best life decision for yourself. Don’t just go off what you want to do right now. Figure out the positives and the negatives of the situation”.

As for him, he did the same thing, despite that the lockout was on the back of his head, when he decided to declare for the draft.

“My final decision was that I’m going to just bet on myself. I’ll figure things out. I just felt like college wasn’t going to do anything for me going forward. But on the back end of things, yes, the lockout was on my mind”.

“Everybody probably thought I was crazy, like, Thomas noted. ‘What is he doing? He has one more year. He can be in college. So much uncertainty with the NBA going on for that next season.’ But that was my decision, and I went with it.

“I went with my gut”.