LOS ANGELES _ Lakers guard Isaiah Thomas will undergo arthroscopic hip surgery on Thursday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. The surgery ends Thomas' season with the Lakers at 17 games, during which time he made a positive impression on the organization.
"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 felt stiffness in his right hip when he woke up Saturday and missed the last two games of the Lakers' recent four-game road trip. He was with the team in Memphis and traveled with them to Detroit. Thomas then left Detroit to go to New York to evaluate treatment options for his hip.
"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.
Thomas initially injured his hip in March 2017 when he was playing for the Boston Celtics. He opted not to have surgery and spent the next two months helping the Celtics to the Eastern Conference final.
Boston traded Thomas to the Cleveland Cavaliers the following August, and he continued his recovery there. Thomas did not play for Cleveland until January and played only 15 games for the Cavaliers before being traded to the Lakers on Feb. 8.
Though never fully healthy with the Lakers, Thomas has played in 17 games. He averaged 15.6 points in 26.8 minutes a game.
His intangible impact was much greater. At 29, Thomas is one of the oldest players and one of its few veterans on the team. Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball reached out to Thomas for advice upon his arrival.
"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 mindset going into every single day."
