GOAT Index

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Isiah Thomas: the case for the GOAT

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    Isiah Thomas: the case for the GOAT

    Guard · Pistons · Born 30 April 1961, Chicago, Illinois, USA · Career 1981–1994

    A small, fearless point guard who led the Detroit Pistons' 'Bad Boys' to back-to-back championships, spending his whole career in Detroit.

    Career highlights

    Why Isiah Thomas could be the GOAT

    At 6-foot-1, Thomas led the Pistons past Bird's Celtics, Magic's Lakers and Jordan's Bulls. He once scored 25 points in a quarter on a badly sprained ankle in the Finals. As a leader and big-game guard, he stands among the very best ever.

    What fans say

    Isiah Thomas is #25 of 30 in the fan ranking, with a 4–8 head-to-head record from 157 NBA votes. See the full NBA GOAT ranking

    Isiah Thomas head to head

    How the ranking works. Every head-to-head vote is a result, like a game. The standings use a Bradley–Terry model, the same idea behind chess ratings: beating a highly rated legend counts for more than beating a long shot. Ratings are shown on a chess-style scale centred on 1500.

    One vote per matchup per person. If you see a pairing again in another session your new answer replaces the old one, so nobody can stuff the ballot by repeating a matchup.

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