Isaiah Thomas is getting another shot in G League as he attempts another NBA comeback

BOSTON -- Isaiah Thomas has never given up on his dream of returning to the All-Star status he once owned in the NBA. The 35-year-old is getting another shot to show that he's still got it in the G League.

Thomas signed with the Salt Lake City Stars on Tuesday, as first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, as he looks to pave a way back to the NBA. It looks like Danny Ainge, who traded for Thomas in 2015 when he was running the Celtics, wants to see if the "little guy" can regain his form once again.

Thomas last played in the NBA in 2022, when he appeared in 22 games over stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and Charlotte Hornets. Each of those runs began with a 10-day contract, and the Hornets eventually signed him for the rest of the season.

Thomas played in 17 games for the Hornets in 2022, averaging 8.3 points off 43.3 shooting from the floor and 39.7 shooting from 3-point range to go with 1.4 assists per game. He went without a team last season, but now Thomas is getting another shot to find his way to an NBA team in the G League.

It has been a battle for Thomas since 2017, when he suffered a hip injury during his incredibly entertaining run with the Boston Celtics. Thomas played through the injury in the playoffs -- plus the death of his younger sister -- and helped lead the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals that postseason. 

While he scored plenty of points and made clutch shot after clutch shot as the "King in the Fourth" for the Celtics, it was his heart and passion that endeared Thomas the most to Celtics fans. The diminutive guard never backed down from a battle and he constantly played through pain (both physical and emotional) for Boston. In addition to the hip injury, Thomas also lost his front tooth in Game 1 of the East semifinals against the Washington Wizards in 2017, courtesy of an inadvertent elbow from Otto Porter Jr. He stayed in and scored 33 points in a Boston win, and after spending his off day in the dentist chair, dropped 53 on the Wizards in Game 2.

Unfortunately, his run with the Celtics ended after Boston lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Cavaliers. Thomas was ruled out for the rest of that series, and then traded to Cleveland in the Kyrie Irving blockbuster that offseason.

Thomas' hip never really recovered though, and he bounced around with the Cavs, Lakers, Nuggets, Wizards, and Pelicans over the next four years. He was unsigned to start the 2021-22 season, before getting a shot with the Lakers, Mavs, and Hornets later in the year.

A two-time All-Star with Boston, it's hard to find any Celtics fan that isn't rooting for Thomas to make it back to the NBA. He will never be the player that he was in Green, but hopefully he gets another chance to take the floor in the NBA.