Getty Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics still have a trio of open roster spots following their trade activity around the February 10 trade deadline.
The Celtics have already moved to fill out some of their roster, but that was primarily to satisfy NBA rules. Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet have both seen their two-way deals converted into full-time contracts for the rest of the season, per ESPN’S Adrian Wojnarowski. But, due to some technicalities involved, adding those two players only fills one of the team’s open roster spots, leaving the Celtics with three more spaces to fill.
According to Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett, the first player the Celtics should be reaching out to is former All-Star Isaiah Thomas.
“I would have at least made the offer a long time ago. But the question with Isaiah is, will there be opportunity there? Look, I think the Celtics owe Isaiah more than they can give him. Not just financially, I am talking about an overall sense. What he did for this franchise during a down time was incredible,” Bulpett said.
Thomas Helped Boston Rebuild in Record Time
When the Celtics acquired Thomas, the idea was to shore up Brad Stevens’ bench with some additional scoring. A trade with the Phoenix Suns saw Thomas head to Boston in return for Marcus Thornton and a 2016 first-round draft pick, per Wojnarowski.
However, that deal worked out better than the Celtics could have ever imagined, as Thomas quickly became a franchise hero, and helped lead the team to multiple Eastern Conference finals appearances. Bulpett thinks that Thomas’ impact went even further than his on-court exploits and that Boston has a debt of gratitude to the “king of the fourth” for helping put the franchise back on the map so soon after hitting the reset button.
Now the #Celtics have plenty of roster space for Isaiah Thomas.
“Payers, free agents, they look at teams like, is this a place I can win? Some teams are seen as Siberia. That can change over the course of years. The Celtics, after they made the trade of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were seen as, they’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. They made a ton of moves over that time, bodies in and out like a revolving door. When they got Isaiah Thomas, remember, they made a push and made the playoffs. He dragged them there. It was not just his scoring and basketball stuff, it was his attitude.
Now it is a team that Al Horford, who was the prize free agent, now it is a team he wants to come to. They do well and the next year, Gordon Hayward is the prize free agent. All of the sudden, Boston is a place to go. I think a lot of that is largely because of Isaiah Thomas.”
Stevens Remained Coy on Potentially Adding Thomas
Following Boston’s activity around the trade deadline, Stevens met with the media to discuss the team’s recent additions. Of course, the topic of roster space comes up, and whenever the Celtics have had room for free-agent additions, Thomas’ name has never been far from the forefront of the conversation.
“We brought in some guys that really know how to play, that can really accentuate our guys, but also have a strong understanding of who they are and what they bring to the table. So we’ll assess if we need to add a veteran leader or do we need to add young guys that haven’t made it yet that are on good, long contracts to add and meet the needs of our team. There are all kinds of discussions that go on, but that does not change anything about how I feel about Isaiah, regardless of what we decide,” Stevens said, “He’s just a special guy, he’s a special person, and I understand why everybody feels that way, so, that’s my answer to that.”
The tough part of any decision to bring Thomas back is that he’s no longer the dominant scorer he once was. Even this season, the former All-Star has struggled to make an impact during stints with the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.
However, it’s also worth remembering that Thomas was a journeyman guard when he first arrived in Boston, so it’s not like the team hasn’t taken a leap of faith with him before. And as Bulpett noted, Thomas’ impact goes way beyond the parquet, “This guy gave you a lot. He gave you a lot on the floor. Physically, he gave you his body. There’s a lot of reasons to bring him back.”