If you’re like me (bless your soul if you are) and you’re a proud, born and raised Green Teamer, Isaiah Thomas probably has a special place in your heart. He essentially, singlehandedly, made our beloved Celtics relevant again for the first time since in a few years. Brad Stevens got everybody excited again when he was hired in 2013, but the roster he had to work quickly snapped us back into reality.
Out of nowhere in 2016-17, this little guy named Isaiah Thomas messed around and was an MVP candidate and put up historic numbers – like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, LeBron James numbers. That season-long performance from Thomas was something I know I’ll never forget. For the first time in years, the Celtics had a guy who was must-see television. Even if they were playing on the west coast, myself and others knew we had to stay up and watch because, well, we didn’t want to miss something spectacular. Thomas was so, extremely efficient in his time with Boston on the court, it was tremendous.
This dude singlehandedly brought Boston to the Eastern Conference Finals against LeBron and his Cavaliers – again – as an MVP candidate. That entire Celtics team was the little engine that could, and almost did, thanks to Thomas. The Celtics are nowhere near where they are right now if not for that player.
Naturally, after seeing what the man was capable of, how loved he was in Boston by the people and the people on Causeway, we all assumed that he’d play out his prime in Boston and sign a huge, maybe max, contract with the team in the summer. He played through a hip injury into the playoffs and even through the tragic death of his sister the day after it happened. I’ll never forget that entire situation and how right then when everybody rallied around him, that he was a Celtic for life. He dropped 50-plus points in that game following his sister’s death at the Garden; I mean come on. That was special and everyone had that feeling that he was going to play here for the long haul.
Just after the Celtics were eliminated in the ECF, Thomas revealed that the hip injury he’d been playing through since around mid-March was pretty serious and he probably shouldn’t have played in the playoffs because of it. He’s very correct in saying that (and still stands by that to this day) because maybe, just maybe, if he sat out of the playoffs and rested up, the Brinks truck would have backed up and he’d be a ~$200 million millionaire.
The downfall of Thomas pinpoints directly to his hip injury. It all came crashing down from the moment he collided awkwardly with Karl-Anthony Towns on March 15th – it only worsened from there. We could all see from that point forward that he had lost a step.
Regardless, we all assumed that offseason surgery would fix it and soon enough, he’d be back on the court once again leading the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Before we even had the chance to figure out what his surgery was or meant, Trader Danny pulled the trigger and shipped Thomas and that beloved 2018 first-round Brooklyn pick in late August to Cleveland for Kyrie Irving and Kyrie Irving alone (that pick turned out to be Collin Sexton just last month) in a complete robbery of a deal and everybody, myself included, freaked out. Nobody really knew what to do except scroll through Twitter with our jaws dropped to the floor. We considered everything that Isaiah did for the city, the fans and the team. We considered whether Danny pursued this all along or only just recently. We considered Thomas’ feelings. There was a lot of considering and thinking and screaming. Lots of screaming. In real life and online screaming. Kyrie freaking Irving was a Celtic, but…at what cost? The cost of Isaiah Thomas.
Soon enough, we got over it the exact moment we saw Irving donning a Celtics uniform. Meanwhile, Thomas’ time in Cleveland was short and not-so sweet. He didn’t return from rehabbing his hip until early January and only played 15 games for the Cavs, because he was traded to the Lakers in early February and only got to play 17 games for them as he underwent another hip surgery that ended his season in March.
Once summer began, Thomas got to hit the free agent market and, as the story goes, had very few suitors and, in general, interested teams. Celtics fans with brains pondered whether or not the Celtics might bring him back, but quickly realized that probably wouldn’t happen. Why, you may ask? You may recall the media firestorm between Thomas and Ainge that went on for months after he was traded to Cleveland. There were endless streams of petty and cryptic tweets about Ainge and the Celtics, how they have no loyalty, Thomas threatening to never talk to Ainge again, so on and so forth. I recall this being extremely embarrassing for everyone involved. I can only imagine how Thomas felt about the whole situation, but they way he went about it by attacking Ainge was wacky. Thankfully, Ainge handled it maturely and gracefully as he does.
Here we are, present day, and thomas chose to sign a one-year, $2 million deal, which is the veteran minimum, with the Denver Nuggets. Taking that kind of a deal is a major gamble for Thomas, but then again, he was forced to take it. It’s a prove-it type of deal for the guy: he’ll come off the bench and, well, try to prove himself in an attempt for teams to hopefully take a gamble on him next year in free agency and actually make some cash. He needs to make an impact as a sixth man if he wants teams to pay him anything in the future.
Recently, Thomas sat down with the beloved Adrian Wojnarowski for an in-person column interview on ESPN.com and talked lots about the Celtics, how everything went down, reiterating that he probably shouldn’t have played in the 2016-17 playoffs, that type of predictable stuff we’ve already heard. The one part of this interview that sticks out is this little tidbit:
“Before finalizing the agreement with Denver, Thomas had reached out to Boston GM Danny Ainge. They talked for 15 to 20 minutes, Thomas says, and he told Ainge: ‘If the opportunity is there, I would just like to let you know that I’d love to come back.’
Ainge says his mind was open to the idea, but the Celtics needed to work through Marcus Smart’s restricted-free-agency discussions before they could consider making an offer to Thomas. Ainge was willing to continue the conversation, but Thomas accepted the Nuggets’ offer before Boston had reached its new deal with Smart.
‘S—, I’d have gone back,” Thomas says. “I don’t hold grudges.’”
Everything considered – was he really willing to come back to Boston? After everything he said about the team and Ainge, was he really going to do that? I’m sure part of his willingness to come back to Boston had, in part, to do with the fact that he was getting no offers, or only crappy offers. I’m just glad to see, from a personal standpoint, that the two of them have put that whole saga behind them and have seemingly made amends. Each of them owe the other that respect; both of them greatly helped out the other in the year and a half or so that they worked together in Boston. Without Ainge, Thomas is nothing. Without Thomas, Ainge is still attempting to assemble a relevant, winning team and viable roster.
Just imagine an Isaiah Thomas return to Boston, though. The Garden Faithful(™) welcomes back The Little Guy(™) and he finally gets that video he so desperately wanted.
Weirdcelticstwitter would collectively burst into flames, as would the TD Garden as a whole. One can dream, I suppose.
Thinking rationally, though, there’s no way a reunion would have worked out this season with the roster being as crowded as it is. I have this feeling, for some reason, that one day a reunion will take place here in Boston. Whether it’s a couple, five or ten years from now, I think we might see Thomas in Celtics green again. My Green Teamer heart is telling me so.
It is just incredible to sit back and think about: Thomas was ready to sign a nine-figure deal and cement his status as the face of the Boston Celtics exactly one year ago. A year later, he’s about to play under the veteran minimum and come off the bench for the Denver freaking Nuggets. All because of a bum hip.
One year ago and change, on July 17th, 2017, I wrote an article stating that I believe Thomas is worthy of a max deal and that he will most likely get one to remain with the Celtics. It is incomprehensible, how quickly he plummeted off the face of the NBA. Nobody is ever safe. Ever.
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