The NBA’s 2016-17 season has yet to begin, but Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas is already thinking about what happen in 2018.
Yes, 2018. That’s when Thomas will reach free agency and, by his own words, search for a lucrative deal. As he told CSNNE.com’s A. Sherrod Blakely:
They better bring out the Brinks truck,” Thomas said Saturday, via A. Sherrod Blakely of CSN New England. “They’re paying everybody else. I gotta get something.”
At least he’s being honest. Too bad he may be hitting the open market too late.
The NBA’s salary cap will still be hovering above $100 million by that point, but the player feeding frenzy will have subsided. Thomas will also be on the wrong side of 29, seven months away from turning 30, when he reaches free agency, firmly on the back end of his prime. Teams won’t be backing up the Brinks trucks to pay for his inevitable regression.
Oh, and then there’s the fact Thomas is still 5’9″.
Still, Isaiah Thomas, provided he stays healthy and productive, should get paid more than he did in 2014, when he signed a four-year, $28 million deal with the Phoenix Suns. He won’t be commanding max money, and he might even be hard-pressed to suss out a long-term contract that spans four seasons, taking him through his 33rd birthday, but he should have no trouble averaging at least $10 million per year when he does finally become a free agent.
Until then, he’ll just have to continue basking in (premature) visions of 2018 grandeuer.
