Inside The Huskies

Hornets Give Persistent Isaiah Thomas An Extension to Season's End

The former University of Washington guard simply isn't ready to retire from the NBA.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Some NBA players hang around way too long.

Isaiah Thomas is determined to stick around forever — and continue to prove he belongs.

So far, so good.

On Monday, the Charlotte Hornets announced they will keep the former University of Washington guard for the rest of the season after signing him to 10-day contracts.

Thomas then went out and scored 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting in just 14 minutes of game time in the Hornets' 106-103 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in Charlotte. 

Thomas has been with the Hornets for three weeks, appearing in 7 of 9 games while averaging 9.9 points per game.

Charlotte is his 10th NBA team over 11 seasons, and third this season after stints with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks. 

Thomas has been willing to do whatever it takes to extend his pro basketball career, even spending a couple of stints in the NBA G-League. 

The 5-foot-9 guard from Tacoma, Washington, has scored 9,643 career points in 540 NBA games, averaging 17.8 points per game.

Thomas played for the Huskies from 2009 to 2011, twice becoming a first-team All-Pac-10 selection. His No. 2 is one of three men's basketball jerseys retired by the school and hanging from the rafters at Alaska Airlines Arena.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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