Gettty Images Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder of the Celtics
Four years removed from his MVP caliber season with the Boston Celtics, Isaiah Thomas is considered a potential option for Brad Stevens as the NBA opened its free agency doors Monday evening.
In the wake of trading Kemba Walker, Boston is reportedly in the market for a new point guard, and according to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein of Substack, Thomas is on the Celtics’ radar.
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“Boston, I’m told, has an interest in an Isaiah Thomas reunion, with new Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens known to be one of Thomas’ biggest fans,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote, Monday.
Is An Isaiah Thomas & Celtics Reunion Imminent?
It’ll be interesting to see if Stevens is so big on an Isaiah comeback that he’s willing to orchestrate what would be the second Celtics player from his coaching tenure he’s reunited with the organization. The team’s new president of basketball operations made trading for former All-Star Al Horford the first move of his new role.
Together, Horford and Thomas led Boston to the Eastern Conference finals, back in 2017, where they fell to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games of their best-of-7 series. They both represented the Celtics on the 2017 Eastern Conference All-Star team.
Both, Thomas and Horford, are past their All-Star playing days. However, they have the capability of evoking something the 2020-21 Celtics were missing above health, chemistry, and motivation; passion.
Above all, Horford and Thomas led a Celtics team that was an underdog on a seemingly night-to-night basis but still put forth the effort to beat some of the best teams in the league. It was a culture that was instilled. Defense served as the backbone of that culture, and everyone bought in.
Now, equipped with two All-Stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics will look to revert back to what Horford brought on the defensive end. Al, whose numbers of last season are nearly identical in contrast to his averages during his last season with the Celtics. He averaged 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 0.9 blocks per game in 28 outings for the Thunder.
And, if Boston is serious about bringing Isaiah back, potentially a new offensive spark for Celtics head coach Ime Udoka’s second unit, it could turn out to be a good fit for both parties.
Thomas, a journeyman who’s played for five different teams the past four years, including the Washington Wizards, who Isaiah played 40 games for throughout 2019-20 and averaged 12.2 points while shooting at a 40.8% clip from the floor, including 41.3% from behind the arc.
Isaiah Thomas Drops 65 Points in AEBL Pro-Am
Recently, Thomas lit the floor with a whopping 65-point performance in the Atlanta Entertainment Basketball (AEBL) Pro and Youth Summer League. What started with Isaiah tweeting out interest in joining a pick-up game — which he often did in the offseason during his time in Boston — before eventually tweeting from the AEBL event hours later.
Highlights of Thomas’ 65-point show made their rounds through social media, which piqued the interest of faithful Celtics fans on Twitter. Especially, after Jaylen Brown shouted out his former teammate while retweeting Thomas’ highlights, via Ballislife.com.
Thomas last played for the New Orleans Pelicans on a 10-day contract back in March. He averaged 7.7 points and 1.7 assists in 16 minutes per game, per Basketball-Reference.com.
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