While he dreamed of playing in the NBA growing up in Baton Rouge, Thomas didn’t participate in organized basketball until his junior year at McKinley High. He wasn’t a high school All-American. He wasn’t a top-100 prospect nationally. He didn’t even make the cut for Louisiana’s All-State corps. As for an NBA future, Thomas might as well have been playing in Bangladesh or Barbados, he was so far off the league’s radar.
