MORE: How will Kyrie fit in with Celtics?
ESPN’s Chris Haynes recently spoke about this during an appearance on ESPN:
Another aspect not brought up by Haynes is the fact Thomas played for the Celtics a day after the death of his sister, and continued to give Boston everything he could. He helped bring in Al Horford and Gordon Hayward in free agency, and was just sent off in a trade.
When they asked Isaiah — management, ownership — asked him to go out and recruit such and such, he did it. He went out there, tried to improve the roster. He did everything that was asked of him to try to improve the Celtics. And then to, out of the blue, to be involved in a trade — and look, we’re not even talking basketball-wise. I think most people will say Kyrie probably, overall, is a better player. But it just rubbed players the wrong way.
GM Danny Ainge admitted it wasn’t easy.
“I’m not gonna share my conversation with Isaiah. I can leave it to your imagination how difficult that conversation was for me and Isaiah," he said about the trade this week. “Everybody fell in love with him; such an underdog with his size and his heart. It was challenging making this decision.”
Despite Ainge’s words, many felt the team didn’t do right by Thomas. Former Celtic Ray Allen posted some harsh words on Instagram.
“I expect every Celtic fan to be pissed off at the organization because they showed that they were disloyal to Isaiah,” Allen wrote on Instagram. “They traded him to your rival! The team you guys played in the conference finals. Oh wait, now it’s just business.”
Boston’s decision to trade Thomas could have a lasting impact in the future. We’ve heard about free agents not wanting to play for the Knicks due to their front office mistakes, and the same could end up being true for Boston due to this.
