Isaiah Thomas On Trade To Cavs: That S--- Hurt
BOSTON (CBS) – Isaiah Thomas penned an entry in The Players' Tribune on Wednesday, reflecting on the blockbuster trade that sent him to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Kyrie Irving.
The post, titled "This Is For Boston" begins with the moment Thomas learned in a phone call from Celtics presidents of basketball operations Danny Ainge that he had been traded.
"But yeah, I'll just say it: That s--- hurt. It hurt a lot. And I won't lie — it still hurts," Thomas wrote.
Related: Isaiah Thomas Sports Cavaliers Gear In Instagram Video
The point guard said he understands the business nature of the NBA, and said he's looking forward to playing with LeBron James.
Thomas reflected Kevin Durant's free agent decision to sign with the Golden State Warriors, the negative reaction it received, and how his trade should prompt fans to think about the nature of the sport.
Suddenly, just for doing business on his end, and doing right by himself, he was portrayed as this bad guy. But that's what I think my trade can show people. I want them to see how my getting traded — just like that, without any warning — by the franchise that I scratched and clawed for, and bled for, and put my everything on the line for? That's why people need to fix their perspective.
Thomas added that while he understood the business aspect of the trade, he didn't agree with Ainge's decision.
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.
During his 2.5 years with the Celtics, Thomas says he "fell in love with Boston" and was disappointed because he wanted to go down in New England sports history for bringing championships to Boston.
But, Thomas wrote, a series of text messages from Tom Brady helped change his perspective.
Following the trade, Brady texted Thomas to ask how he was handling the news.
I think I realized that, like, Yo — that's Tom F------ Brady. And I was only here for two and a half years. Tom Brady isn't sending a text like that to guys who played in Boston for only two and a half years — unless they did something very special. So maybe, I don't know … maybe that's something to be proud of. And maybe, my time here … even if, in the end, I guess it wasn't quite what I'd dreamed it would be — maybe it still meant something to some people.
Thomas is expected to be introduced alongside Jae Crowder and Ante Zizic on Thursday during a press conference in Cleveland.