New Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaiah Thomas revealed that he got the news about his high-profile move while heading back from celebrating his one-year wedding anniversary.
Penning a piece for the Players Tribune, Thomas said that when he got the phone call from Boston Celtics head of operations Danny Ainge, he thought it was like any other phone call, but it ended with the 5’9″ guard wanting to end the call as soon as he picked it up.
“And then somewhere in there, it was just like … it was barely anything,” Thomas wrote on the Players Tribune. “This little pause in the conversation. And that’s when he told me.
‘I just traded you.’
Simple as that. No big words, no big speech. Though I guess when it comes to shit like that, there’s not much more to say.
‘To where.’ That’s all I could manage.
‘ To the Cavaliers, for Kyrie.’
And that’s when, like — man. You ever been on the phone, and someone says something … and then all of a sudden, all you can think about after is, I don’t want to be on the phone anymore? Not even in a rude way. Just, like, your willpower to have a conversation shuts down. That’s what it was like for me in that moment.
Danny started going on about everything I’ve done for the city of Boston, and for the Celtics organization, both on and off the court. About what a great player I am, and how I’m going to be great in Cleveland. You know, telling me that type of stuff. And it was just like … at that point in time? I definitely didn’t want to hear none of that.
“So I was steady trying to cut him off a few times, and then eventually I did. It was basically, you know — I appreciate you reaching out, appreciate you telling me, but there’s really nothing else that you or I need to be saying right now.”
Thomas openly admitted that he fell in love with the city of Boston and felt at home with the Celtics. He is looking forward to the prospect of joining the Cavaliers and LeBron James but is hurt at the reality of leaving the club that he loves.
“But yeah, I’ll just say it: That shit hurt. It hurt a lot,” he wrote
“And I won’t lie — it still hurts.
“It’s not that I don’t understand it. Of course I get it: This is a business. 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. I’m a grown man, and I know what I got into when I joined this league — and so far it’s been more blessings than curses. I’m not sitting here, writing this, because I feel I was wronged. I wasn’t wronged. It was Boston’s right to trade me.”
To read the full piece on the Players Tribune, click here.
