Tacoma’s Isaiah Thomas still seeking last NBA shot — and giving to his community
Even as he chases his desired conclusion to his personal basketball dreams, Isaiah Thomas has started over with the next generation.
Thomas continues to chase a return to the NBA for one more season.
“My goal was always to play 14 years,” Thomas said recently. “I’ve played 13. I still feel really good health-wise. I’m 35 years old, but my body feels really good.”
He knows the next prime time to catch on with a team will come in December or January, as franchises look to massage their rosters with valuable experience. Thomas has that experience, having made stops in 10 different cities over those 13 seasons.
Most recently, the two-time all-star played in six games for the Phoenix Suns during the 2023-24 season. As he awaits a call this season to hopefully get a job as a mid-season replacement, Thomas is back in his hometown of Tacoma on a mission to give back to the community that spawned him.
The former Curtis Viking and Washington Husky has turned his attention to Tacoma’s youth basketballers, including his own sons: 14-year-old James and 12-year-old Jaiden. Thomas formed Slow Grind Elite, a new AAU program for the Tacoma area.
As long as he’s in Tacoma, Thomas makes sure he’s at every practice mentoring kids from the third to eighth grades. To run things day-to-day, he went out and got a long-time friend in Darnell Williams to serve as the program director.
And they’ve tapped numbers of former players to come on as coaches for the six teams in the program.
“I’ve known Isaiah since the sixth grade,” said Williams, who played his college ball at Hawaii-Hilo. “He came to me and said, “Let’s do something for the community. He wanted to benefit them more than just as a name. Adding Isaiah Thomas to it made it better.”
The message is more than just basketball. Thomas wants to impart the life lessons he learned as a non-traditionally sized guy who made it. At 5-foot-9, Thomas is not the quintessential body type for an NBA star.
It didn’t matter. And he wants the kids that play for Elite to reach their own full potential, no matter if that is simply to play in high school, or maybe college, or even the possibility of getting to the NBA someday.
“I used to watch NBA highlights,” said Riley Martinez, one of the program’s eighth-graders. “So I knew who he was. He is the example of how hard work pays off. This is a hard-working program. Isaiah shows us that if you’re a hard worker, and you really want it, you’ll get there.”
While Thomas fully embraces the idea of the ‘slow grind,’ and knows it will take time to build a program, Elite already has started to see results. One of its two eighth-grade teams won the Northwest Hardwood Tournament in south Seattle the first weekend of November – playing up a level in 15-U.
“Our goal is not just to build a program that wins games,” Thomas said. “I feel like it is my purpose to give back. At 5-9, I’ve been able to live out my dream of what I wanted to be. You learn so many lessons through basketball and make so many relationships.
“You’ve gotta let them see it’s possible. We want to give these kids endless opportunities.”
Williams left a program that he’d been building – World Class Renegades – to join Thomas. And he has no qualms over having done so.
“Not many people can talk about it like Isaiah can,” Williams said. “He let’s them see it in person. To touch it.”
Thomas’ own journey to success and stardom wasn’t without its hardships. Injuries sidelined him. The road back took its toll. But Thomas is not shy about sharing that side of things, either.
“It’s a good message behind the basketball,” Williams said. “There are gonna be times when the game does not show you love back. We want to show (these kids) the mental piece – not just the basketball – to be good people in general.”
And Thomas knows he can build the program to last.
“I’m going to do it in the right way,” Thomas said. “I have the formula. I am the source – in Tacoma, for sure. We’re just working and building. We have the foundation. It’s my name on the program and I feel an obligation to help them to develop in the best way they can.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
