Just my leadership could get this team over the finish line!
Since the 2021–2022 NBA season, Isaiah Thomas has not played in the league. After playing significant minutes with the Lakers and Mavericks in the same season, he last appeared for the Hornets.
He’s now arguing that the Celtics should contract him in the latter half of the season.
The 2014–17 Boston player Thomas took to X to discuss how he may assist the team win its first NBA Finals since 2008.
“This team would get over the hump thanks to my leadership alone!” When a fan suggested that Boston sign Thomas this season, Thomas responded. “I’m not even required to play for a minute. Give me a jersey, please LOL.
If the Celtics so choose, they can sign a player to fill the last roster space and add a 15th man. Given that Thomas hasn’t played since 2022, a reunion seems improbable, but it’s still fun to consider the possibility. Despite Thomas not being able to “play a single minute.”
Thomas was a key member of the Celtics in the middle of the 2010s. In two consecutive seasons (2015–16 and 2016–17), he was chosen an All-Star. In the MVP vote in 2016–17, he even made it into the top five.
The late Tommy Heinsohn gave Thomas the nickname “The Little Guy,” and he played a key role in the Celtics’ two victories over the Hawks in the 2016 postseason’s first round.
Before being ruled out of the playoffs due to a hip injury, he helped lead Boston the next season to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavaliers with series victories over the Bulls and Wizards. Thomas scored 53 points in Game 2, the second-most in a single playoff game in Celtics history, against Washington. He fell just short of John Havlicek’s team record by one point.
Before the 2018 season officially began, the Celtics made the unexpected deal of Thomas to the Cavaliers a few months later in return for Kyrie Irving.
Thomas has since played for seven different clubs, but he hasn’t even quite regained his Celtics form.
Nevertheless, after being traded, he has openly stated that he would like to go back to Boston. There were also reports that the Celtics once desired Thomas’ return.
In March 2022, while still a Hornet, Thomas stated to reporters that he had long desired a get-together in Boston. To him, the feeling was just never reciprocated.
Thomas remarked, “I’ve opened my arms to try and come back in so many ways.” “I feel like there have been occasions when Brad [Stevens] could call and offer me a chance, but it hasn’t happened.”
But according to NBA source Marc Stein, the Celtics “had interest” in acquiring Thomas a few months earlier in August 2021. Stevens was described by Stein as “one of Thomas’ biggest fans.”
Though a reunion was never completed, Thomas seemed eager to try again in 2024.
