Isaiah Thomas Reached Out To Danny Ainge About Signing With Celtics

[RealGM Wiretap]

Isaiah Thomas reached out to Danny Ainge about signing with the Boston Celtics before he reached his agreement with the Denver Nuggets.

Thomas and Ainge talked about about 15 minutes.

"If the opportunity is there, I would just like to let you know that I'd love to come back," Thomas told Ainge.

Ainge says his mind was open to the idea but they first had to resolve the free agency of Marcus Smart. In the meantime, Thomas agreed to his deal with the Denver Nuggets.

"S---, I'd have gone back," Thomas said. "I don't hold grudges."

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

[rzzzzz]

IT left it all out on the floor for Boston. no good to them now.

[theman]

Thomas seems like a class act. Sounds like Danny treated him with respect too. Perhaps next off season.

[Hoopzilla]

I am sure they shared a chuckle over the "Brinks truck"...

[Temuhjan]

Smart > IT

[hyberx]

IT is a good guy, playing through his family tragedy for Celtics and all that. But business is business, Ainge saw right through it that no way they could win it all with IT as the centerpiece. Even during his best year, his RPM was only ok for a "best player on the team" due to his poor defensive (not that he doesn't try hard enough like Harden, but physical limitation).

After all his injury and stuff, now the best case scenario is probably a 10mil/year or even just mid-level for IT as a 6th man with some good minutes.

[Laimbeer]

IT coming back on that deal would have been great for both. Too bad the timing didn't work. Ainge didn't really give him any special consideration.

[ChokeFasncists]

Not sure,

Kyrie/Rozier/Smart

Maybe next year if Kyrie bolts and IT is healthy.

If he's healthy, Nugz could get a terrific sixth man.

[vascular]

Says a lot about the Danny Ainge and Celtics organization. He's just damaged goods to them now, really unfortunate as a player. Think its a lesson to current players. No need to hate on Kawhi or Durant to do whats right for them. Business goes both ways

[colaroaster]

denver won't make the playoffs so i fully expect them to buy-out IT4 and then he'll join the c's for an epic play-off run. win/win

[tigerae]

Says a lot about the Danny Ainge and Celtics organization. He's just damaged goods to them now, really unfortunate as a player. Think its a lesson to current players. No need to hate on Kawhi or Durant to do whats right for them. Business goes both ways

Absolutely. They are the reason he is in the situation he is in right now. If I was him and/or the Players Association I would definitely look in to possibly suing the Celtics organization. He played with a very bad injury for them right before he was to become a free agent. The team doctors should have not only advised against it but also made sure he didn't play until it was taken care of. Team should never be put ahead of a players long term health and value.

The reason IT reached out was likely in hopes that Ainge would know what he did and try to make it somewhat right by giving him a deal for it. I'm sure IT still hates Ainge and how the staff/organization handled his injury situation and ultimately trading him.

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[Pickled Prunes]

Says a lot about the Danny Ainge and Celtics organization. He's just damaged goods to them now, really unfortunate as a player. Think its a lesson to current players. No need to hate on Kawhi or Durant to do whats right for them. Business goes both ways

The Kawhi and Durant situations were vastly different. Durant was a free agent. Kawhi was in the middle of a contract that he signed.

[vascular]

Says a lot about the Danny Ainge and Celtics organization. He's just damaged goods to them now, really unfortunate as a player. Think its a lesson to current players. No need to hate on Kawhi or Durant to do whats right for them. Business goes both ways

The Kawhi and Durant situations were vastly different. Durant was a free agent. Kawhi was in the middle of a contract that he signed.

They're not vastly different, they are about the same. Kawhi sat out because he was misdiagnosed by the team staff, very similar situation except he is a year away from contract year. Who is to say if Kawhi continued to play hurt with longterm effects, he would not be in a similar situation as IT?
Durant chose to change scenery because he didn't want to play with Russ and OKC is infamous for not wanting to spend money while had the opportunity to pay and play Russ, Durant, Harden and Ibaka for years to come. He chose to go GSW where he could have play and win behind an organization willing to spend tax money. He gets torched for being a snake.
Bottom line, players got to look out for themselves. Its a business, if the employer isn't provided for you, switch companies.

[gordoncatrell]

Never would've happened. Ainge needs to keep the ball w the youngsters.
Vets overuse devalues the Bos kids.

[FrogmanV]

Day late & Dollar short ..... or is that just IT?

[tigerae]

Says a lot about the Danny Ainge and Celtics organization. He's just damaged goods to them now, really unfortunate as a player. Think its a lesson to current players. No need to hate on Kawhi or Durant to do whats right for them. Business goes both ways

The Kawhi and Durant situations were vastly different. Durant was a free agent. Kawhi was in the middle of a contract that he signed.

They're not vastly different, they are about the same. Kawhi sat out because he was misdiagnosed by the team staff, very similar situation except he is a year away from contract year. Who is to say if Kawhi continued to play hurt with longterm effects, he would not be in a similar situation as IT?
Durant chose to change scenery because he didn't want to play with Russ and OKC is infamous for not wanting to spend money while had the opportunity to pay and play Russ, Durant, Harden and Ibaka for years to come. He chose to go GSW where he could have play and win behind an organization willing to spend tax money. He gets torched for being a snake.
Bottom line, players got to look out for themselves. Its a business, if the employer isn't provided for you, switch companies.

Kawhi was in a similar situation as IT in terms of injury for sure. The organization didn't manage both of their injuries well.

KD on the other hand isn't even close and likely will be the most hated player for years to come. KD didn't have problems with Russ, he even used his Twitter accounts to say that OKC only had him and Russ and no one else plus he didn't like playing for the coach.

Point being, KD took the coward way in terms of competative sports which no other top 50 players did while still in their prime. Going to the championship favorite and 73 win team was ridiculous. You can't even say he went there because he had a best friend on the team that he always wanted to play with (see banana boat as an example).

He had plenty of other options, including the Clippers and Spurs which would have had much better supporting casts and coaches than OKC but instead he chose the easy way.

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[LAKESHOW]

Thats the difference with the Lakers vs others. We accepted him. Took him in. Took care of him after injury. But other teams throw them out and deem them trash after years of service.

[tigerae]

Thats the difference with the Lakers vs others. We accepted him. Took him in. Took care of him after injury. But other teams throw them out and deem them trash after years of service.

Let's relax there. The Lakers threw out Shaq for peanuts after winning 3 championship, 3 finals mvps, and 4 straight final appearances. He should have been signed to an extension and locked both him and Kobe in a room until they worked it out.

They also messed up Dwight Howard. After getting him to partner up with Pau Gasol in the front court they went and hired D'Antoni who doesn't believe in the post game. Especially when you could have had Phil Jackson back for another championship run.

With IT it was just an expiring contract that they were able to get for Clarkson's broken contract, nothing more. If they really cared they would have signed him back. They threw outrageous 1 year deals at players like KCP and Rondo, they could have taken that, split it in 3 and signed IT along with Rondo and KCP (though personally I would have taken the bulk of that money for a 1 year deal for Cousins).

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[RandyBreuer]

Lol And now that we all know Ainge is a good GM and not a bad one, he said...."FU Isaiah", (in not so many words)

[RandyBreuer]

Much like Leveon Bell and Beasley ,he needs 1 year deal