NBA Rumors: Coach Brad Stevens Reveals Why Isaiah Thomas Joined Nuggets In Free Agency
In July 2017, the Boston Celtics shocked the entire league when they traded Isaiah Thomas to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Kyrie Irving. Thomas has been one of the major reasons behind the Celtics’ success in the past years and he helped them acquire top free agents like Al Horford and Gordon Hayward. In his final season with the Celtics, Thomas carried them to the Eastern Conference finals and become one of the frontrunners to win the Most Valuable Player award after averaging 28.9 points and 5.9 rebounds on 46.3 percent shooting from the field and 37.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Since being traded by the Celtics, Isaiah Thomas has gone through lots of ups and downs. After failing to make himself fit playing alongside LeBron James, the Cavaliers traded Thomas to the Los Angeles Lakers in the last February NBA trade deadline. In the recent free agency, Thomas failed to receive a decent offer and signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Denver Nuggets.
As of now, Isaiah Thomas is yet to play a single game in the 2018-19 NBA season as a Nugget since he’s still recovering from an injury. Before the Celtics faced Thomas’ new team on Monday night at Pepsi Center, Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens discussed their decision to trade the All-Star point guard last year. Stevens admitted that parting ways with Thomas was a very tough decision, especially knowing the things Thomas has done to make the Celtics a significant team in the Eastern Conference once again.
COLUMN – @ChrisForsberg_ #Celtics visit to Denver a reminder of what @isaiahthomas helped build https://t.co/EPjHqBy2uv
— NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) November 5, 2018
In his interview with The Denver Post, Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens also shared his opinion on why Isaiah Thomas chose to sign with the Nuggets in the recent free agency.
“When he was playing in Boston, he would always talk about Mike Malone, and he was a huge fan of Mike,” Stevens said. “Whenever we would play the team here in Denver, Isaiah took the time to spend time with Mike. IT is one of a kind. And for all of us that have been with him and spent time with him, we are hopeful that this time when he comes back, he feels great and is ready to roll. There’s no question that his impact on an organization and a team is hard to match.
As of now, Isaiah Thomas’ main priority is to make sure that he’s 100 percent healthy before he enters the court. The Nuggets haven’t made an official announcement regarding Thomas’ return, but a previous Inquisitr article revealed that the All-Star point guard is expected to join the team sometime in December.
