NBA’s afterthought, Isaiah Thomas, shining with Boston Celtics

Isaiah Thomas might be the most unexpected NBA star ever.

Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas in action against the Washington Wizards in game five of their playoff series this week.

Isaiah Thomas had the best game of his basketball career last week, and Chukwudiebere Maduabum heard about it from halfway around the world.

It was the next morning in ­Kagoshima, Japan. That’s where Maduabum plays basketball now. And people he didn’t know were mentioning him on social media because of his association with someone he’s never met.

Their unusual connection goes back to the night of the 2011 draft. Thomas was the 60th pick. Maduabum was the 56th pick. Which is why some NBA fans still remember his name: He’s one of the ­players who was picked before Thomas.

“He’s 5-foot-9 (165cm),” Maduabum said of teams passing on Thomas. “What’d you guys think was going to happen?”

Not what has actually happened: Thomas might be the most unexpected NBA star ever.

He was the very last pick of his draft. Then he was dumped by two NBA teams. Only then did ­Thomas, the shortest guy in every game, become the Boston Celtics’ starting point guard, leading ­scorer and most compelling player.

His story has become even more resonant in these NBA playoffs as he’s played while grieving the sudden death of his younger sister.

In his last game in Boston — the Celtics return home on Wednesday for game five in their tied playoff series against the Washington Wizards — he scored 53 points and rallied the Celtics to an overtime win.

It was his most unlikely performance yet, which is saying something, because Thomas being in any playoff game was already unlikely.

The majority of NBA players who are picked as late as Thomas in the draft can’t actually call themselves NBA players: they never play in the NBA. Look no further then the four players picked immediately before ­Thomas for proof.

Maduabum, a Nigerian-born forward who had been in the D-League when he was drafted, has since played in lots of places: Qatar, Estonia, Mongolia, the D-League again, Estonia again, Iceland, Finland, Mongolia again and now Japan’s second division. He’s been traded several times by NBA teams, but still hasn’t played in the NBA. Neither have the three international prospects who were picked after him.

As it turns out, though, the nomadic careers of these obscure players are the easiest way to understand the exceptional improbability of Isaiah Thomas.

There is a point in every NBA draft when most people stop ­paying attention. That’s when Thomas was drafted. And that’s when Fran Fraschilla shines. Fraschilla is ESPN’s authority on international prospects. He can offer a scouting report on anyone even if no one has seen him play. “That’s my territory,” Fras­chilla said. “When any of these college guys come off the board, I’m like, dang! Where’s my Serbian big man or Slovenian point guard?”

The arena was almost empty by this time in 2011 when Adam Silver, who still announced second-round picks as the NBA’s deputy commissioner, walked to the podium and attempted to pronounce the name of Chukwudiebere Maduabum.

“He probably thought he was being pranked,” Maduabum said.

It’s easy to analyse players like Thomas, who played college basketball at Washington. It’s harder to explain the games of players like Maduabum.

Fraschilla prepares all year for these mysterious picks, and he once knew enough about a Brazilian prospect that he could describe him as “two years away from being two years away”. But even Fraschilla had nothing to say about Maduabum.

“The only guy in my time at ESPN who I had never heard of,” he said.

“I didn’t expect him to know me,” Maduabum said.

Fraschilla knew more about the next selections. Tanguy Ngombo went 57th. His official name and age were later called into question. After Majok went 58th. He was quickly stashed with a Slovakian team. Adam Hanga went 59th to the San Antonio Spurs. “Good player from ­Hungary,” Fraschilla says now. “He probably could come over to the NBA some day soon.”

Thomas, meanwhile, still plays as if he can’t believe anyone overlooked him. But even the teams that had Thomas didn’t see anything special about him. They treated him like stinky cheese. Sacramento had a sniff and then traded him to Phoenix. The Suns took a waft and traded him to the Celtics.

The truth is that Boston didn’t see this coming, either, because no one could have. It had never happened before. Thomas was an afterthought when he entered the NBA, and he remained an afterthought when he was playing in the NBA.

Maduabum doesn’t think much about Thomas these days. He’s busy with his own basketball career. He plays for the worst team in his league, but Maduabum holds the league’s record for the most blocks in a season. This was also the league’s inaugural season.

As much as he wants to be in the NBA, like Thomas, Maduabum says he likes playing in Japan. He doesn’t even mind that his teammates resort to communicating in broken English on the court.

“I talk like I’m a Star Wars character,” he said.

He’s even friends with some of the people who share his claim to basketball fame. He once lived with Majok, and he’s practised with Ngombo. They didn’t talk about Thomas then. “Isaiah wasn’t as good yet,” he said.

And they wouldn’t talk about Thomas now. “I doubt we’d be like: ‘Yo, did you see this guy they drafted right after us?’” Maduabum said. “We’re focused on ­making the best of our careers at this point.”

The Wall Street Journal