A teeny-tiny little NBA trade went down this week, if you haven’t heard. The Celtics and Cavaliers, the East’s two best teams, flipped their starting point guards.
Yes, Isaiah Thomas and Kyrie Irving are changing homes. In the deal, Boston received Irving and Cleveland received Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the 2018 Brooklyn Nets first-rounder.
The loss of Thomas was particularly heart-wrenching for Celtics fans, so while they’re excited to welcome one of the best young guards in the league, they’re also sad that the trade went down. One young man didn’t hide his sadness when he got the opportunity to ask Celtics coach Brad Stevens a question.
During a Q&A session at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., the boy put Stevens on the spot and asked, “why did you trade Isaiah Thomas?” The crowd erupted with laughter.
Stevens, as you’d expect, had an eloquent answer.
“That’s an excellent question,” Stevens said. “Here’s what I’ll tell you, is that what he did in Boston the last two-and-a-half-years was incredible, I said earlier what he’s meant to me, what I think of him, how great he’s been in the locker room, what kind of teammate he’s been, and those are all really really hard decisions. That’s the hard part about being a professional basketball coach, I’ve stared at the wall many times and thought, man, having guys in college for three or four years and knowing exactly when they’re going is a pretty good way of doing things.”
