Isaiah Thomas says his trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers was strictly about basketball, “nothing personal.“
Do you remember the trade that sent Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics in exchange fora package centered on Isaiah Thomas and the Brooklyn Nets’ first-round draft pick? What about when the Cleveland Cavaliers decided to trade Thomas to the Los Angeles Lakers?
If so, do you remember everything in between?
On Tuesday, AmicoHoops released an article with a link to Thomas’ (who signed with Denver Nuggets in the summer) appearance on actor-comedian Kevin Hart’s show, “Cold as Balls.”
Around the 7:00 minute mark of the video, Hart asks Thomas about the trade from the Celtics to which he would say “no warning, nothing.”
After a postseason that saw him leading the Celtics to victory right after the passing of his sister, Chyna, and an MVP-worthy campaign buoyed by averages of 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game, Thomas probably felt like his job was secure, even if he opted not to get surgery on a torn labrum in his right hip.
That apparently wasn’t the case.
Fast-forward a few months into the next season and Thomas returns to the court to Cleveland, to much fanfare.
For about a month, there was speculation that Thomas’ return was imminent but there were no illusions he would be fully healthy when he returned. The Cavs, and their fans, were just clamoring for a capable perimeter playmaker with Derrick Rose in-and-out of the lineup and the aging Dwyane Wade playing more like “Fast Jog” than “Flash.”
On January 2, 2018, Thomas made his Cavs debut against the Portland Trail Blazers and had 17 points and 3 assists in 18 minutes. He went 6-12 from the field and 3-8 from three.
It was clear that he was still hobbled, not moving with a smooth gait at all times, but The Land was elated.
In his second Cavs game, Thomas had 19 points and 4 assists in 23 minutes against the Orlando Magic. He was 7-13 from the floor and 2-4 from three.
From there, it went downhill and fast. He averaged 10.7 points and 3.3 assists over his next three games, shooting 27.7 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from three. Even worse than the inefficient shooting was the selfish play of Thomas; he would attribute both to needing to get his rhythm on court in lieu of practice, since the Cavs didn’t practice.
Unfortunately for Thomas, after a two-game stretch in which he averaged 22.5 points and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three, he had a seven-game stretch where he averaged 13.6 points and 5.1 assists per game while shooting 30.6 percent from the field and 14.7 percent from three.
Two days later, he was traded to the Lakers, a move which Thomas would say was purely about basketball and “nothing personal.”
Of course, the whole team’s rhythm is effected by selfish play but Kevin Love’s touched and rhythm, which hit its peak in December, sputtered with Thomas jumping in as second in-command.
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Love averaged 11.6 points on 42.6 percent shooting from three in January (13 games) after averaging 22.2 points per game on 48.5 percent shooting from three in December (13 games). His three-point percentage also dropped from 46.2 percent in December to 38.6 percent in January.
Though he also shot 42.6 percent from the field in October, he had yet to average below 18.9 points in any month prior to January.
Love’s struggles wouldn’t exist in February because he fractured his hand on January 30th.
There were off-court reason’s to the deal, though.
Thomas mentioned that they lacked unity routinely, but more importantly, publicly. He was placing blame on the coaching and consistently citing the Boston Celtics’ ways of doing things.
He and Wade’s questioning of Love’s whereabouts after leaving a game with a panic attack seeming to be symbolic of a chaotic locker room rather than camaraderie between concerned teammates.
To be fair, at that point, Love hadn’t announced his struggles with anxiety and panic attacks to the team. So, the question of why Love wasn’t around and why they weren’t told where he was at by the coaches was valid. But in the grand scheme of things, the locker room had never gelled; the strain and tension that began to exist never found a release.
That said, trading Thomas wasn’t personal. Though he was an internal irritant, he was frustrated with his issues out of his control, like not being fully healthy, not being in rhythm and the lasting sting of being traded by a team he gave his all to.
He didn’t try to single-handedly sabotage the team, either. He just was a piece that didn’t fit and it was made increasingly obvious throughout the season.
Despite Thomas’ time in Cleveland being far from ideal, and evidence that he may still have a chip on his shoulder from being traded by the Cavs, a healthy Thomas is a dynamic playmaker.
That said, hopefully his season with an up-and-coming Nuggets team proves to be fruitful.
*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.con