Isaiah Thomas may have not yet stepped on the floor for the New Orleans Pelicans but he’s already been monitoring his new team. On Sunday, Thomas took to Twitter to praise his new backcourt mate and former teammate in Lonzo Ball following his career-best performance.
Thomas spoke to the media for the first time as a Pelican on Tuesday and discussed Ball’s improvement since his days in Los Angeles at more length.
“You can just tell the confidence is on another level. He’s not thinking twice about his jump shot. Obviously his jumper is looking a lot better than it did when he first came into the league. My job is to pour more confidence into him, to continue to be aggressive. Last game was amazing, seeing the pep in his step. He felt like he was going to take good shots and make good shots.”
The two players spent the 2017-18 season together in Los Angeles, playing 13 games together. Injuries to both players limited the amount of time the two could share the court together, though. In their 242 minutes, the Lakers had a plus-1.0 net rating and a 7-6 record.
Much has changed since that time. Ball has undergone massive changes in his jumper and his game as a whole while Thomas spent parts of the next two seasons in Denver and Washington, playing just 52 games.
Now together again in New Orleans, the duo could be an interesting pairing for a New Orleans team in desperate need of guards and healthy bodies.