During the offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers made the major move of trading Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics that netted them Isaiah Thomas as the primary piece of the package in return.
Some of that process on how the trade went down was revealed during the opening scene of Thomas’ video piece with the Players’ Tribune where he discussed on the phone with Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, who told him about being dealt away.
“I had just touched down at 1 o’clock, he [Danny Ainge] knows that I was driving home from the Carribean. He was like ‘how is your IT?’ I said ‘I’m good.’ He knows I just got back from my anniversary and just got back home. I’m straight. He was like ‘I just traded you.'”
It was something that came as a complete shock for Isaiah Thomas given the amount of success he had with the Celtics in the 2 1/2 seasons that he was there. He had helped lead them to three straight playoff appearances, which included their first Eastern Conference Finals trip in five years.
He had also engrained himself as the new face of the franchise for the Celtics and had also expressed the desire to remain there long-term prior to entering the final year of his contract. However, Boston’s front office thought it was in the team’s best interest to move on from Thomas in order to acquire Kyrie Irving, who is a couple of years younger and under contract for at least two more seasons.
What this experience showed more than anything else is that sometimes the NBA can be a cold-cut business where personal feelings and connections are often times put aside for the betterment of the team. That said, things could come full circle if the Cavs and Celtics were to face off in the playoffs with possibly a trip to the NBA Finals hanging in the balance.