Make no mistake, Deshaun Thomas's absence from Carmen’s Crew in past years hasn’t been due to a lack of recruiting efforts from his former Buckeye teammates.

Head coach Jared Sullinger said the team has been seeking the services of Ohio State’s No. 9 all-time leading scorer since the very beginning of its participation in The Basketball Tournament.

“Every year. Every year. We try every year and there’s things that came up every year,” Sullinger said. “This year it just kind of seamlessly worked and we’re happy to have him.

Last year, ahead of Carmen Crew’s TBT-winning campaign, Thomas’s name briefly turned up on team’s roster, but he ended up getting married in the summer, which threw off the timing of his participation in the tournament once again.

The former five-star recruit from Indiana turned long-time EuroLeague veteran said he’s been away from his Buckeye brethren for a while, but even amid the pandemic, the timing was finally right this year.

“The connection is there, so it’s always love,” Thomas said. “I decided to come play with them this year –– I felt like it was right, I felt like it would be a good move to go out there and hoop with the fellas and especially hoop with Aaron Craft one more time.”

But besides reuniting another key member from the Ohio State teams that battled among the nation’s best in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Thomas’s game serves a specific need for Carmen’s Crew on the court.

Assistant coach Evan Turner said even when the team won it all last year, it experienced long scoring droughts and what Turner called “dull basketball.” But neither Thomas nor his teammates envision that happening now that a player that former Ohio State shooting guard William Buford called an “offensive juggernaut” can step in for the second unit.

Scoring 19.8 points per game as a junior at Ohio State in 2012-13, the versatile power forward logged the third-most points of any single-season in program history. But Sullinger sees Thomas’ skillset translating specifically to the format of TBT.

“He’s an Elam ender. That’s what he does. He scores, he gets buckets, he was top five in the EuroLeague in scoring and I think he played like 18 minutes a game,” Sullinger said. “He gets buckets.”

Craft, who played with Thomas for three seasons in Columbus, Ohio, said the prolific stretch forward hasn’t changed a bit since his college days, “but he’s a better basketball player.”

Thomas said an increased maturity and feel for the game has come as a result of playing with veterans in countries like France, Greece and Spain over the better part of the past decade.

“It’s a nightmare. A guy like him who can score at all three levels, and for some reason the ball always seems to find him,” former Ohio State guard David Lighty said. “Offensive rebounding, posting up, free throw line, three-pointers; he’s one of the nightmares you have when you’re a defender.”

Thomas may be joining the defending tournament champions, but he said his excitement is tied up more in finally having the chance to play competitively with his old teammates again, and less so about chasing the $1 million first-place prize.

“To be honest with you, I’m just here to hoop with the boys and have fun,” Thomas said. Obviously trying to win the money, but I think once we go out there and just hoop and have fun and play the way we play, the results will come.”

The wait to see just how potent the result of sticking Thomas with the reigning TBT champs is almost over, as Carmen’s Crew begins its title defense efforts against House of ‘Paign Wednesday at 4 p.m. on ESPN.