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Isaiah Thomas explains why he was hurt by the way the Celtics traded him
"I felt like I had a relationship with the people who make those decisions."
Four years after the Celtics dealt Isaiah Thomas to the Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving, both parties have been through a lot.
The Celtics went back to the Eastern Conference finals twice and came within a game and two games of the Finals in 2018 and 2020 respectively as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown developed into stars. They also lost Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Al Horford — all three in the same way they arrived, via free agency — and went through a regime change this past offseason.
Thomas, meanwhile, bounced out of the NBA and has been on the comeback trail — what he calls “The Slow Grind” on social media — ever since.
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Thomas still gets questions about his breakup with the Celtics. In a video posted on Tuesday, Thomas spoke glowingly of the city to Stadium’s Shams Charania.
“That love is just so genuine, and it happened so genuine,” he said. “It wasn’t forced, it was kind of like two people meeting, never seen each other a day in their life and they falling in love the first day. That’s how it truly felt. …
“I went through a real-life situation with those guys. It wasn’t only just battling on the court, I felt like they went through that situation with my sister passing, they went through that with me.”
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Thomas added that he understood the business aspect of the trade at the time.
“How the trade went down, I was surprised about, which made me upset,” Thomas told Charania. “Anybody in my situation, anybody that’s a human that got real feelings would have felt the same way.
“I didn’t think where I was at the level I was playing that I would be caught off guard by such a big trade. That’s what hurt the most. I felt like I had a relationship with the people who make those decisions. I felt like we were close enough to where we could chop it up and you could talk to me about it, or about what possibly could happen. That never happened, so I was upset about that.”
Still, Thomas knew the Cavaliers were a contender. He hadn’t been dealt to a lottery team or a rebuilding situation, but a team with LeBron James and thus a real shot at a title.
“I always said if I wasn’t hurt at that point in time, I don’t think the negativity about the trade and about how upset I was or whatever the case may be would have lasted as long,” Thomas said. “I would have been playing and we would have moved on.”
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This past offseason, Thomas nearly got his chance to play with James — he worked out with the Lakers and believes he was close to landing a roster spot. Instead, Rajon Rondo was bought out and the Lakers went with a known commodity.
Still, Thomas says he’s fully healthy after recovering from a resurfacing procedure on his balky hip. Prior to the procedure, Thomas spent three years with chronic pain.
“Not just basketball pain, and going to the gym to workout or play, every day all day I was just in constant pain,” Thomas told Charania. “So when I got the procedure last May 2020, it changed my life. It changed my everyday life. …
“Basketball is the cherry on top, but pain-free in life, I can play with my kids, I can do anything that I did pre-injury, and honestly, I just never thought that would happen again.”
The on-court results on Wednesday were encouraging: Thomas scored 42 points in his G-League debut with the Nuggets’ G-League team, dishing out eight assists with six rebounds.
“I know at some point, my opportunity will come and I’m going to take full advantage of it and I’m going to run with it,” Thomas told Charania. “I’ve never cheated the game, not once. I know it’s going to come back around, and when it does I’m going to have a smile on my face.”
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