D.J. Thomas is a young man of choices.
The D.J. Thomas File
- Age: 19
- Class: Sophomore
- 2023-24 stats: 34 games, 13.6 points, 5.1 assists, 44.9 FG%, 36.2 3FG%
- NBA comparison: Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
- How he spent his offseason: “I feel like I’ve gotten stronger, a lot quicker. My shot has improved a lot. I feel like I’ve gotten smarter; I have a year under my belt, so I feel a lot more comfortable going into this year.”
- Favorite restaurant: Pho Saigon
- Biggest college rival: Donovan Dent, New Mexico guard
- Can he dunk at 6-foot-1?: “Absolutely.”
- Goal for 2024-25: “Win the Mountain West conference. That’s the most important thing for us.”
The view here is that as one of the premier point guards in the country and, more to the point, a player with three years of college basketball remaining, the UNLV star could have transferred during the summer and pick-and-choose his next school of preference. Bigger TV audiences, large home crowds and a direct ticket to the NCAA tournament were all there waiting for him to claim.
And he could have gotten a lot of money for his trouble.
But why is Thomas still in Las Vegas, all dressed in Scarlet and Gray practice jersey, with a wide grin on his face as he assists his UNLV team for the next season? Why not Gonzaga, or Houston, or Duke, or some other program with deep pockets, who can afford to pay coaches, tutors, Academic advisers?
That, in the view of Thomas, is where the whole thing gets really quite basic indeed.
“Many people have asked me, why did you decide to go to UNLV,” he said?. ‘People go on to ask about the NIL and the cash and so on,” I decided do not really care that.”
That’s a boost for UNLV which is well placed to challenge for a Mountain West crown this year with Thomas leading the team. Without him? That would have been a disaster for a program that is 12 years removed from its most recent NCAA bid and now in its fourth season of the Kevin Kruger era.
Thomas played in 2023-24 and was awarded Mountain West Co-Freshmen of the Year as you can see below: Thomas started all 34 games for UNLV and led the team in scoring average 13.6 ppg and assists average of 5.1 apg. As in the MWC tournament, he got 29 points in a losing cause that went into overtime against San Diego State.
But losing Thomas would not have just meant taking his scoring ability out of the mix, it would have been a program punch as well, plus Thomas is a second generation UNLV baller and a high school legend. His father Dedan Thomas reeled for coach Jerry Tarkanian for three years between 1991 and 1994 while his high school basketball playing days were at Liberty where led the patriots to a state championship in 2022.
Thomas has been going to games at the Thomas & Mack Center as long as he can recall. His father taught him everything there was to know about Tark and J.R. Rider and UNLV teams of the nineties.
Having adopted the program, Thomas’ desire to steer the Scarlet and Gray into the NCAA Tournament is personal.
“If you ask Thomas about his first game walking out of the tunnel last year, he has this to say; ‘It was just crazy walking out there because I was born and raised here,’ ” “So surreal. Well just knowing my dad entered that very tunnel, it was incredible. Watching him sitting there gesturing and laughing his head off, it was lovely. It was a great feeling.”
All rounding up to something as simple as that’s a player you can’t let walk out the door.
Kruger says he and his staff have moved from recruiting the portal to player retention with an aim to creating the kind of continuity the coaches think necessary for victories in March. Of course, the most crucial component of that equation was to keep Thomas around to be UNLV’s crutch.
While Thomas performs the]>he is earning six figures this year along with last year at UNLV through nam⟨e, image and likeness sponsorship. He could have made a lot more by transferring but he says he never considered it seriously, because of his tenure at UNLV and the rapport he enjoys with the coaches.
Kruger said he had known the Thomas family for years and started making overtures to D.J. when he was in his freshman year of high school at Liberty. Thomas knows the feeling of trusting his coach, and he also knows that money can’t buy it.
If you look back into his words, you’d realise that he didn’t actually plan to leave at all. At UNLV I would like to remain here and have these coaches, I am comfortable here, they want the best for me. Well they have been setting me up for success so I hardly ever had any intentions of going.”
On this in this college basketball, nothing is for sure and everything is uncertain. Thomas had the right to transfer after this season after all. He could choose to immediately turn professional and sit for the NBA Draft. He could also become a four-year marvel that steers his team from his hometown back to the NCAA championships. Again, he’s got options.
For now, for D.J. Thomas it’s UNLV.
