Isaiah Thomas Revisits Final Celtics Run: ‘Worst Year Of My Life’
Before Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown joined forces as the co-leaders of the Boston Celtics, 5-foot-9 guard Isaiah Thomas held the leader's torch, donned the nickname "The King of the Fourth," and surged from being the last pick in the 2011 NBA Draft to a legitimate MVP candidate.
Thomas had reached the peak of his career, doing so in one of the best, high-pressured markets in sports, leading up to the two-time All-Star's free agency eligibility. But it all came down to a crashing end after one of then-Celtics general manager Danny Ainge's highlight trade fleeces -- from the Phoenix Suns in 2015 -- in Thomas, suffered a hip injury during the 2017 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Washington Wizards. Thomas muscled through the pain, averaged a team-leading 27.4 points, scored 53 points in Game 2 -- the second-most points scored by a Celtic in a playoff matchup -- and booked Boston an appearance in the conference finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. That marked the heroic ending to Thomas in a Celtics uniform, leaving fond, sentimental memories in the mind of Boston's fanbase while leaving a bittersweet taste as Thomas headed to Cleveland in a blockbuster trade just a few months later.
"I'm upset because I put my career on the line for something you could've just broke down to me and told me," Thomas explained during an appearance on the "Knuckleheads Podcast" with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles. "... It took me three years to get back to who I am and really figure out what was going on, but it was a tough situation. It was a learning experience for myself. I got real love for Boston and everybody in that organization. It was definitely the wrong way to go about things. I'm not blaming Boston, I'm not blaming those guys. People know what happened, it's documented. It was just a messed up situation and it happened to be with me."
Understandably from Ainge's position, the Celtics swapped Thomas -- along with Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and a 2018 unprotected first-round pick (Colin Sexton) -- in exchange for Kyrie Irving. In real-time, the trade appeared to be an automatic win for Boston. The Celtics were welcoming in a Hall of Fame talent with NBA Finals experience to combat James and the Cavaliers, but evidently, the biggest trade of the 2017 offseason didn't age well for either side. Irving underwent an ugly falling out with the city of Boston and Thomas never recovered to his previous All-Star form, even though Cleveland needed it. Then again, Thomas bit the strongest bullet among all parties involved. Instead of taking a seat at the negotiating table awaiting a well-deserved payday, Thomas faded away from NBA stardom to short-lived journeyman stints.
Most recently, Thomas landed a backend-of-the-bench spot last season, ironically enough, with the Suns who have reached their stage of contention. Thomas first received a G League offer from the Utah Jazz, now run by Ainge, which the now-35-year-old Thomas fled with by averaging 32.5 points on 40.7% shooting from the field with three rebounds and 5.3 assists in four games before Phoenix extended an NBA contract offer for the remainder of 2023-24 -- which Thomas accepted. It wasn't easy accepting a limited bench role, especially while watching the Celtics accomplish the mission Thomas strived to reach in Boston, now from afar, but enduring the death of a loved one (Chyna Thomas) and a career-changing injury eclipsed the obvious frustrations spawning from saying goodbye to Boston.
"I understand the business of the game. I wasn't fighting that like 'Oh I got traded, I'm mad at that,'" Thomas told Richardson and Miles. "It was how it happened. I'm a franchise guy at that point so as you guys know, it should've been communicated (that) this is what possibly can happen. I'm the franchise for the Boston Celtics at that point. But you live and you learn. You move past it. I'm healthy again, I'm cool, I got no pain no more. But I went through real life (expletive) with my sister, getting traded, getting hurt. I always say that was the best year of my career and the worst year of my life -- at the same time. Let that sink in."