Earlier this week, there was a complete shock that the Boston Celtics traded All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas as part of a package to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving.
According to Chris Haynes of ESPN, the move was viewed by several other players in the league as being unfair to the two-time All-Star (h/t Sporting News):
The fact of the matter is, players in the league, they felt like Isaiah Thomas was done wrong.
When they asked Isaiah — management, ownership — asked him to go out and recruit such and such, he did it. He went out there, tried to improve the roster. He did everything that was asked of him to try to improve the Celtics. And then to, out of the blue, to be involved in a trade — and look, we’re not even talking basketball-wise. I think most people will say Kyrie probably, overall, is a better player. But it just rubbed players the wrong way.
This viewpoint is likely due to the fact of what Thomas established during his tenure with the Celtics, taking over the role as the face of the franchise while leading them to a tremendous level of success with three straight playoff appearances.
The 28-year-old had helped establish a strong culture with the team that included helping recruit both Al Horford and Gordon Hayward over in free agency to join the fray. In essence, he played a huge hand in helping the team get to the point they are at this juncture.
The fact that the Celtics can move on from Thomas after what he accomplished at both a team and individual level has rubbed players around the league the wrong way. Ultimately, it was another move that can be classified as being “part of the business” where emotional ties to the franchise come second to improving the team's future outlook.
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