On Tuesday night, newly acquired Cavaliers guard Isaiah Thomas opened up on the trade out of Boston for the first time in an Instagram post.
The video was more of a tease to his upcoming documentary, and it wasn’t really Thomas proclaiming his actual thoughts on how he truly felt about the being dealt.
Thomas finally had the chance to formally say goodbye to the city of Boston, and expressed his excitement in joining LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in an emotional article in The Players' Tribune. Warning: If you’re a diehard Celtics fan, you might shed a tear or two.
After the phone call with Danny Ainge ended, him and his wife reached out to their two sons on FaceTime to tell them about the trade, and it was his older son James that helped ease his mind after the initial shock.
"I guess he really is his father’s son, because he asked the same first question I did: To where?
Cleveland. They traded me for Kyrie. And I’m pretty sure you know what came next.
LEBRON! LEBRON JAMES! Dad — Dad. You get to play with LeBron James!"
Thomas was brutally honest about his assessment of the trade and broke down the feelings that enthralled him as shock turned into reality.
"That s*** hurt. It hurt a lot. And I won’t lie — it still hurts. It’s not that I don’t understand it. Of course I get it: This is a business. Danny is a businessman, and he made a business move. I don’t agree with it, just personally, and I don’t think the Boston Celtics got better by making this trade. But that’s not my job. That’s Danny’s. And it’s a tough job, and he’s been really good at it. But at the end of the day, these deals just come down to one thing: business. So it’s no hard feelings on that end. I’m a grown man, and I know what I got into when I joined this league — and so far it’s been more blessings than curses. I’m not sitting here, writing this, because I feel I was wronged. I wasn’t wronged. It was Boston’s right to trade me.”
Finally, Thomas touched on his new journey with the Cavs, and what it means to be going to one of basketball’s elite franchises.
“From a basketball perspective, me on the Cavs is a match made in heaven. If you’ve watched any Celtics games last year, then you know how many times I would have to go through double and even triple teams, just to get my shot off. It ended up working fine for us — guys played great, and my shot was falling. But this year … man, it’s not even going to be a thing. You really going to throw three guys on me, when I’m sharing a court with the best basketball player on the planet? Nah, I don’t think so.”
Based on the reception Thomas had in Boston, the Cleveland faithful should warm up to Thomas rather quickly. Despite losing Irving, the Cavs will be a lot of fun to watch by adding the high scoring threat to an already strong lineup.
(h/t to Players Tribune)
