Isaih Thomas Never Talk to Danny Ainge Again
It'd be tough to arraign Isaiah Thomas for feeling some type of way virtually the summer trade that landed him in Northeast Ohio.
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Certain, there are worse things than getting to conform upward aslope LeBron James on a Cleveland Cavaliers team that'south won the Eastern Conference three years running and remains the favorite to exercise so again this season. But Thomas didn't wind up in Cleveland of his own volition. He got in that location because the Boston Celtics — the team he'd rewarded for plucking him out of Phoenix by turning into a two-fourth dimension All-Star capable of leading a team to the Eastern Conference finals — had chosen to ship him out rather than keep him around.
Thomas gave the Celtics everything he had, averaging 28.9 points per game — the highest scoring flavour by a Celtic since Larry Bird'southward 1987-88 campaign — and standing to perform at a superstar level in the postseason despite the tragic loss of his sister and busting his teeth at the commencement of the second round. And and so, iii ane/two months later being shut down for good with a hip injury that would current of air upwards looming far larger than he had whatever reason to suspect, his fourth dimension in Boston was over.
In an open letter to Celtics fans, Thomas made it clear that the merchandise hurt him deeply, though he claimed "no hard feelings" after this item "business motility," even if he (obviously) didn't agree with it. In a new broad-ranging interview with Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated, though, Thomas made it clear that, while he'll always appreciate the city of Boston and the Celtics organization for the opportunities they gave him, he's going to have a much harder time squaring things with the human who both traded for him and traded him away: Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge.
Sacramento and Phoenix, Aaron Brooks and Eric Bledsoe, provided an early education in the concern of basketball. But they could not prepare Thomas for Aug. 22. He has wracked his brain for reasons the Celtics moved him, having been assured performance and personality were not among them. Ainge acknowledged that Thomas'south health played a role, as did his contract. By any normal measure, Thomas is richly compensated at $6.2 1000000 this year, just in the NBA he is a dime-shop steal who finally reaches free bureau next summertime. The irony, of form, is that Thomas jeopardized both health and earning potential while playing injure for the Celtics.
"I've been looking at this wall for five hours," Celtics charabanc Brad Stevens texted Thomas after the merchandise, "trying to figure out what to say to y'all." When Sacramento allow Thomas walk in 2014, he left town telling himself, "F— Sacramento. I'thou about to kill those dudes." When Phoenix exiled him the following winter, he pledged, "O.K., now they're gonna get it." But at that place will exist no revenge bout this time. "Boston is going to be all love," he vows, with 1 exception. "I might not ever talk to Danny again. That might not happen. I'll talk to everybody else. Simply what he did, knowing everything I went through, you don't practise that, bro. That'south non right. I'm non saying eff you lot. But every team in this state of affairs comes out a year or 2 afterward and says, 'Nosotros fabricated a mistake.' That'south what they'll say, too."
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It's absolutely possible that the decision to ship Thomas, Jae Crowder, Dues Zizic, the Brooklyn Nets' 2018 offset-round pick and the Miami Oestrus's 2020 2d-circular pick to Cleveland for the right to import noted very much woke conversation-starter Kyrie Irving (who, for what it's worth, pairs his eccentricities with a damn-near-impossible-to-stop isolation scoring game) winds up looking bad. Perhaps the things that made Irving an attractive target — the resume of coming up biggest on the sport'south biggest phase, the fact that he'southward 3 years younger and non coming off a serious hip injury, the reality that he's got two more than years (plus an option for one more, if he wants to exercise it) on his current pre-salary-cap-smash contract whereas Thomas volition hit gratis agency in search of a super-expensive max deal adjacent summer — wind up paling in comparing to the "lot of center and soul" they lost when the five-foot-nine scoring dynamo went out the door.
Maybe Thomas comes back from injury sooner than expected and looking none the worse for wearable, teaming with James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Love and company to lead the Cavs past the Celtics one more time and all the fashion to an NBA championship. As the homo himself notes, it'south non like he doesn't accept a track record of this sort of thing; ask the Kings and the Suns whether or not they think they'd like a do-over on betting against Isaiah Thomas.
Equally Boston swingman Jaylen Dark-brown recently noted, the Celtics now find themselves in the difficult position of having to re-establish, and mayhap wholly redefine, what "Celtic basketball" and "Celtic civilization" mean in the absence of the player who more than whatever other had come to embody them over the past two years. That's only ane of a million aspects that brand the Thomas-for-Irving trade i of the most fascinating in recent history, and that make united states of america so eager to watch how the upcoming battle betwixt Cleveland and Boston for Eastern Briefing supremacy unfolds.
The famously computing Ainge did what he thought was in the best interests of his team, even if it meant jettisoning a beloved All-Star. Every bit a player who'due south had to scratch and claw for every ounce of opportunity he'southward gotten in the NBA, Thomas must on some level understand and perhaps even respect Ainge pulling out all the stops in pursuit of the ultimate goal of adding some other banner to the rafters. That doesn't mean Isaiah has to like information technology, though, or that Ainge should expect any presents coming his way the next time Thomas returns to TD Garden — or, at to the lowest degree, any that aren't an assortment of buckets punctuated by water ice-dagger glares in Danny'south general direction.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/isaiah-thomas-might-not-ever-talk-danny-ainge-celtics-cavs-trade-203153085.html
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