Isaiah Thomas feels Darren Collison's pain after Kings sign Rajon Rondo



It ain't easy being a Sacramento Kings point guard these days. Hard work and solid production seems to get dismissed and tossed to the wayside while the Kings move on to search for the next replacement. It's a feeling Isaiah Thomas knows all too well..

After three seasons with the Kings in which he improved his production each year, Thomas was not eagerly pursued by the Kings once he became a free agent last offseason. Instead Sacramento chose to replace him with free agent point guard Darren Collison who was coming off a solid performance with the L.A. Clippers while backing up Chris Paul.

When Thomas accepted a backup role and signed with the Phoenix Suns to begin the 2014-15 season, he was asked by USA Today Sports why he didn't re-sign with Sacramento when there were reports of the Kings being interested in bringing him back. His response: "I wanted to be wanted – that’s what I keep telling people – and I didn’t feel like they wanted me as much.”

Now Collison appears to be the one falling short of being rewarded by the Kings for his performance. The twenty-seven year old point guard averaged 16.1 points and 5.6 assists per game as a starter for the Kings last season, yet the Kings wasted no time in finding his replacement, as they reportedly have an agreement to sign former Celtics guard Rajon Rondo to a one year, 9.5 million dollar deal.



With Collison now likely heading to a bench role behind Rondo, it appears he may be feeling a lot like Thomas did last offseason when the Kings looked in other directions after Thomas had put up averages of 20.3 points and 6.3 assists per contest the year before.


To add to the irony of all this, both Thomas and Collison were once tied to trade rumors involving Rondo that would have landed them in Boston in the past..



To think if only Rondo would have agreed to signing long term with Sacramento a year ago. The Celtics could have had I.T. for the full 2014-15 season, plus Ben McLemore and a few more future draft picks that could have been added to general manager Danny Ainge's trade proposal to Charlotte for Justise Winslow.

But hey, atleast we got Jae Crowder right?


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Top photo - Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports