While former NBA point guard Isaiah Thomas will forever be remembered as one of the lost stars of his time, his story alone makes him a player worth revisiting. Before his career began spiraling downward, IT was an ascending star who was fueling conversations about the best “small” players of all time.
In 2009, attaining that label was a long-shot hope. In 2017, it became a borderline reality. As the face of the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics , Thomas was in the MVP conversation with the likes of triple-double warrior Russell Westbrook and the consensus best player in basketball, LeBron James .
In hindsight, it was the peak of his greatness — and the final straw before his sudden downfall.
IT on becoming one of the NBA’s best
In a recent podcast appearance, the former All-Star described his Celtics tenure and how his rise to notoriety nearly paved the path for him to be recognized as the league’s most dominant small guard.
“That’s when I started to realize I’m one of [the best] players [in the NBA],” Thomas recollected of the season before his breakout 2016-17 campaign. “I started to connect with the great players. That’s at the time where I started to build a relationship with Kobe Bryant [and] build a friendship with Tom Brady. … That summer, when I really chopped it up with [Allen Iverson] … mentally, I went to a different level.”
Thomas’ 2016 summer was the precursor to his MVP-caliber season. He took it upon himself to seek out the recently retired Kobe Bryant , looking to level up his game, fresh off of achieving his first All-Star nod. In the 2015 season, Thomas established himself as the face of Celtics basketball. Leading a royal franchise back up the ranks — especially at his size — was what earned his glowing stature among fans.
Appearing in all 82 games that season, No. 4 netted 22.2 points and double-digit games with at least 30 points, all in a season punctuated by a Friday night victory in Golden State, with Boston handing the eventual 73-win team a loss and dissolving the Dubs’ 54-game home winning streak.
Goal achieved for Thomas
The guard clearly entered the 2016 offseason with a mission. And now that he had sought counsel from some of the greatest athletes ever, he was ready to go to the mat with his refined mentality and the burgeoning momentum of his first All-Star season.
“I remember going into [the 2016 season]; I write down my goals every year. My goal was to average 25 [points per game] that year. … That was the first year of my career I didn’t have to look over my shoulder,” Thomas said, recalling the mindset behind his MVP campaign.
IT started the season on the tear that he envisioned, averaging 27.2 points and 6.5 assists on 45.5 percent shooting in the first 11 games. By midseason, especially after he rattled in seven 3-pointers to go along with his 44 points against the defensive-minded Memphis Grizzlies in December, the Celtics star was officially an MVP candidate.
Boston notched the No. 1 seed after the LeBron-led Cleveland Cavaliers backslid in the second half of the season with a 23-23 record. Nevertheless, Thomas capped the season fifth in the MVP voting before lifting his team to the conference finals.
Although that season marked the beginning of the end for the 5-foot-9 playmaker, particularly after being dealt in the following offseason to the Cavaliers, he strung together consecutive All-Star seasons in convincing fashion, forever leaving his mark in Boston’s re-emergence as a contender.
Related: Isaiah Thomas on the most valuable lesson he learned from Kobe Bryant: “I remember he sent me clips of Steph Curry, John Stockton, and Larry Bird"
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