Getty Dallas Mavericks guard Isaiah Thomas handles the ball during a game against the Sacramento Kings.
There’s an old adage that catastrophe always comes in threes. Whether or not that’s actually a thing, the Dallas Mavericks have been the recipient of three major pieces of bad news in the last day or so.
In the hours immediately preceding the Mavericks’ Wednesday road tilt with the Sacramento Kings, big man Boban Marjanovic and guard Brandon Knight — who had only just joined up with Dallas as a hardship signing — were both put into health and safety protocols, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Less than 24 hours later, the club’s latest hardship acquisition, Isaiah Thomas, looks to have joined them, as confirmed by Mavs PR.
As with all entrants into protocols, the trio will have to quarantine for at least six days — as long as they’re asymptomatic and testing data shows that they’re not at risk to be infectious — or return two negative PCR tests 24 hours apart.
The team’s H&S crew now includes Thomas, Marjanovic, Knight, JaQuori McLaughlin, Luka Doncic, Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Maxi Kleber.
Thomas Had Only Just Debuted for Dallas
Thomas’ entry into protocols is particularly poor-timed.
The 32-year-old had only just made his first appearance for the Mavs during their heartbreaking loss to the Kings. In 13 minutes of action, he scored six points on 3-of-8 shooting and added four assists for the shorthanded squad.
After appearing in only three games for the New Orleans Pelicans last season — and just 55 total games since the 2018-19 campaign — Thomas got another crack at returning to the Association when he joined the LA Lakers as a replacement player earlier this month.
In his first taste of action on December 17, he saw 21 minutes of court time and scored a team-high 19 points on 5-of-12 shooting. However, the Lakers lost that game by 18 points. And Thomas was less impressive in subsequent appearances before Los Angeles passed on inking him to a second 10-day contract.
In a combined five games this season, the two-time All-Star is averaging 8.6 points, 2.0 assists and 1.6 rebounds in 22.8 minutes per contest. He’s posting shooting splits of 32-20-73.
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Thomas Talks About Getting His Mavs Call
For a Mavs.com feature, Thomas talked about the wild circumstances surrounding his signing with the team. While he was fresh off of his much-ballyhooed run with the Lakers, he revealed that he had already resumed doing Average Joe stuff when he got the call.
However, it quickly became apparent that his respite would be a brief one.
“I was getting some groceries, and [Mavs GM Nico Harrison] had called me,” Thomas said. “The first thing he asked me was, ‘you think you can play tonight?’”
Being the competitor that he is, Thomas jumped at the opportunity.
“I was like, hell yeah I can play tonight. I was in Seattle. I just got home from LA. It’s been a lot, but I’m built for this. I’m ready for it. I’m thankful for the opportunity. And it was a no-brainer when he asked.”
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