If anyone has a right to be critical of Kyrie Irving’s decision to break his verbal agreement to return to the Boston Celtics last summer, it’s Isaiah Thomas.
Yet, the Tacoma native, beloved by Boston fans and — in the eyes of many — done dirty in the deal that brought Irving to the Celtics, was surprisingly understanding of his rival’s decision to spurn an team Thomas treasured.
Discussing the Duke product’s decampment to the Brooklyn Nets, the King in the Fourth related the following to TMZ (via NESN’s Logan Mullen) about why he felt his successor didn’t leave the Celtics because of strained relations with fans over the course of a long and disappointing season.
“No, [it wasn’t fans who chased him away], “but he might’ve been going through some real life stuff so I understand how the fans are, but you’ve got to take that into consideration.”
IT knows about trying to play while grieving, having lost his sister Chyna during that 2017 postseason run that marked the end of his Celtics tenure.
Having lived through loss on the job like former teammate Marcus Smart — who bonded with Irving for similar reasons — Thomas can likely relate in ways which aren’t always obvious to a casual fan.
For many, the Australian point guard was an easy target to fault for the prior season’s woes, even after teammates, head coach and even team president Danny Ainge repeatedly made a point of sharing the blame.
After the “welcome” Boston fans gave an absent Irving when his new team playing his old at TD Garden added more fuel to the fire, the narrative threatened to overshadow this season’s Celtics and the success they were enjoying.
This was something the team took issue with, in particular how the media chose to handle things, and has at least for now shifted the discussion back into a more healthy frame.
However we feel about Irving’s tenure as a Celtic, Thomas is right to call attention to limiting our ire to what takes place on the court, and it being time to move on.
As the Washington product made a point of noting about Irving’s personal situation, “you never know what he was really going through,” a situation Thomas knows far too well.
