MINNEAPOLIS _ Nine years apart in age, Isaiah Thomas and Jamal Crawford understand the special nature of their relationship.
They know how rare it is for them to have met during an open gym at the University of Washington 13 years ago and to have talked virtually every day since.
Thomas' mentor, Crawford would drive 90 minutes to Thomas' games at South Kent High School in Connecticut when Crawford was playing for the New York Knicks from 2004-2008. Crawford was the only friend in the stands. On the weekends, Thomas would take the train to New York to stay with Crawford and attend Knicks games.
Crawford, 37 and a Seattle native, is now playing for his seventh NBA team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who host Thomas and the Cavaliers on Monday night at Target Center. Thomas, 28 and a native of Tacoma, Wash., will see action in his third game after spending seven months rehabbing a torn labrum in his right hip. The pair went out to dinner together Sunday, as they try to do every time their teams meet.
The Boston Celtics traded Thomas to the Cavs for Kyrie Irving on Aug. 22. Crawford was waived by the Atlanta Hawks on July 7 after reaching a buyout agreement and signed with Timberwolves on July 19. Crawford admitted after shootaround Monday that had Thomas been sent to Cleveland sooner, he might have changed his free agency decision.
"Yeah, it would've had to," Crawford said. "That's my brother. We go on vacation, his family and my family. I was a groomsman in [his wedding], he was a groomsman in mine. We're past the basketball thing, so that would've had to change things."
Crawford said signing with the Cavs last summer was "close."
"It was one of the few teams, but the only thing was they were so already put together. Same thing with Golden State," Crawford said. "If I would go there and we would win a championship, I'd be like 'OK, what's next Jamal?' You want to embrace that journey and I wanted to go through it with these guys. I have the ultimate respect for the Cavs and the Warriors and all those teams, but they're already there. I wanted to go somewhere where they can kind of build up."
Crawford remembers Thomas' phone call after the trade, another blow after Thomas' 22-year-old sister, Chyna, died in a car accident in April.
"I was in the gym and he had just came back from his honeymoon, and he's like, 'Call me ASAP.' He keeps calling me and I missed his calls," Crawford said. "He's like, 'I got traded.' I'm like, 'No way, you're joking, right?' The year he just had, there's no way. And then he told me the whole thing. His wife, his parents, they called me next. It was crazy."
Crawford understands how tough the last seven months have been on Thomas, who has returned with a vengeance, averaging 18 points in his two games.
"He's one of the few people that will play basketball anywhere. It doesn't have to be pro players, it doesn't have to be an exclusive run. He'll play with L.A. Fitness guys," Crawford said. "I'm the same way. There's very few when it comes to guys like that.
"Knowing that part of it, it was just killing him. Every single day. He hated missing time whether it was a week, let alone seven months, so I knew that was wearing on him. And then to see him back, I knew how hungry he would be."
Thomas said they have not only turned heads playing together at L.A. Fitness, but also at the YMCA and at Crawford's high school, Rainier Beach in Seattle.
Crawford said players from Washington state try to mentor the next generation. Crawford said Doug Christie and Gary Payton did the same for him; he also counts Brandon Roy and others who didn't make it in the league as his proteges.
But Crawford said what he and Thomas have is special and "rare."
"It's not like we played together in high school, or 'He's a cool kid and I'm a cool kid, let's be cool kids together.' It was so organic," Crawford said.
Asked what it was about Thomas that drew him in, Crawford said, "His pure love for the game. At the core of who he is, you see everything, he's just a basketball player. And from there, how genuine he is. How much knowledge he wanted to absorb and how he applied that knowledge, which was very sincere, throughout his journey.
"That friendship and that bind, me and him are closer than anybody."
