The last time we checked, Alex Oriakhi is playing professional basketball in Mexico and the Sacramento Kings still hold his draft rights.
That’s who the Sacramento Kings obtained from the Phoenix Suns for Isaiah Thomas, along with a trade exception, in July 2014. And the Kings failed to use that $7.2 million trade exception in the one-year limit, so it was forfeited.
So 2½ years after the Kings gave Thomas away to the Suns after he averaged 20.3 points, 6.3 assists, and 2.9 rebounds, he returns to his original NBA team as an All-Star. Last season, the Celtics played the Kings in Mexico City but it was an official home game for Sacramento.
Wednesday will be his first time back as the leader and cornerstone of the Celtics. Thomas was drafted 60th overall — the final pick of the 2011 draft — by the Kings and, two teams later, has flourished into a scoring guard. He’ll enter Wednesday’s game averaging 29.9 points per game, second only to Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook.
Thomas may emerge as one of the more valuable second-round picks in NBA history. He averaged 11.5 points per game as a rookie, then followed with 13.9 in his second season, followed by the 20.3 in his third season in which he started 54 games.
What happened in Sacramento is the Kings had no idea what to do with Thomas. They tried several times to replace him, giving draft day acquisition Jimmer Fredette every opportunity to compete with Thomas during his tenure. Management never believed Thomas was a true point guard. Despite Thomas being second on the team in scoring to DeMarcus Cousins, he was accused of being a shoot-first guard without true distribution skills.
The Kings thought Greivis Vasquez would be a better fit at point guard, so when Thomas’s contract was up after three seasons, Sacramento allowed him to sign with the Phoenix Suns and worked out a sign-and-trade deal to get some type of compensation, knowing it had no plans of bringing Thomas back.
Sacramento is still searching for that standout point guard, having gone through Rajon Rondo, Darren Collison, Ty Lawson, Fredette, Ray McCallum, and Ramon Sessions.
Thomas has always been motivated by slights, and he believed the Kings just allowing him to sign elsewhere was a sign of disrespect. Phoenix wanted to implement Thomas in a three-guard offense with Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe, but that combination — under coach Jeff Hornacek — lasted just 40-plus games before the Celtics benefited from Dragic’s unhappiness. Dragic wanted a trade, and Suns general manager Ryan McDonough decided to break up the trio of point guards by moving Dragic to Miami and Thomas to the Celtics.
Thomas, who has turned into a two-time All-Star and dazzling scorer for the Celtics, has exceeded all expectations here. His original role was as a sixth man but instead he has become one of the league’s top point guards.
Tuesday was Thomas’s 28th birthday and it was likely not lost on him that he was traveling to his NBA beginnings with star status, while the Kings remain mired in incompetence.
Sacramento is 3½ games out of the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference — the Kings haven’t reached the postseason since the 2005-06 season — and Cousins will not play Wednesday against the Celtics because he received his 15th and 16th technical of the season during Monday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls.
NBA players are suspended for one game after the 16th technical and four every two technicals assessed afterward, so Cousins will have to be careful during Sacramento’s final 30 games to help end its playoff drought.
While general manager Vlade Divac maintains he has no plans to trade Cousins, the constant berating of the officials and on-court tirades by the mercurial center are damaging his value around the league.
Meanwhile, for Thomas, the fact the Kings just allowed him to walk with little in return may have been the best transaction of his career. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge was always enamored with Thomas and was seeking the right situation for bench scoring.
All he had to relinquish to the Suns was journeyman Marcus Thornton and a first-round pick.
In return, the Celtics got perhaps the most motivated player in the NBA. While the coaches and management in Sacramento when he was there are long gone, Thomas said he feels grateful for the opportunity the Kings gave him, but underappreciated for the production he provided.
He is being lauded with appreciation now and is striving to prove that he can be the leader of a franchise that goes deep into the playoffs. That’s his next motivation.
Gary Washburn can be reached at gwashburn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GwashburnGlobe.
