NBA Star Isaiah Thomas Held at Gunpoint in Hometown, Credits Recognition for Safety

Two-time NBA All-Star Isa­iah Thomas recent­ly shared a dis­turb­ing encounter on social media. Thomas, cur­rent­ly a guard for the Phoenix Suns, recount­ed a “life-chang­ing moment” where he and his friends were con­front­ed by a young man wield­ing an AK-47 in his home­town of Taco­ma, Washington.

The inci­dent left Thomas shak­en, but he believes his recog­ni­tion as a local hero may have defused the sit­u­a­tion. “If it was­n’t for who I was and him rec­og­niz­ing me,” Thomas wrote, “he prob­a­bly woul­da end­ed all of our lives.”

This expe­ri­ence prompt­ed Thomas to urge his fol­low­ers to stay safe, express­ing con­cern about youth vio­lence. “Real­ly trip­pin on how these young kids are mov­ing around!!!” he wrote.

Thomas, a Taco­ma native, played col­lege bas­ket­ball at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton before enter­ing the NBA draft in 2011. Through­out his career, he has suit­ed up for sev­er­al teams, includ­ing the Sacra­men­to Kings, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, and Cleve­land Cavaliers.

In a fol­low-up mes­sage, Thomas acknowl­edged the role of for­tune in his encounter. “We just got­ta pray for these young men!!!” he wrote. “God was work­ing yes­ter­day frfr. Damn it coul­da all been over that quick smh. FOR NO REASON AT ALL!!!!!”