Isaiah Thomas played 33 minutes per game in 2016-17, finished second in MVP voting, and carried the Celtics on one leg through a playoff run that still gives Boston fans chills. Now he’s back in the building, this time with a notepad instead of a jersey, and the fit makes perfect sense.
The Celtics hired Thomas as a pro and college scout, a role that will have him based out of the Seattle area, his hometown. President of basketball operations Brad Stevens brought him in to strengthen the organization’s presence on the West Coast, and Thomas has already been active at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, helping interview prospects and learning the evaluation process from the inside.
Stevens reuniting with Thomas is a natural move. Their relationship goes back to the years when Stevens was building his coaching reputation and Thomas was quietly becoming one of the most dangerous scorers in the league. Both men know what it means to build credibility from scratch, and both have earned their current positions by outworking expectations.
Thomas’s playing career fizzled out after the hip injury that derailed him following his Boston departure. After cycling through a long list of teams, the NBA roster opportunities dried up. But Thomas was never going to step away from basketball entirely. He loves the game too much, understands it too deeply, and has too much competitive fire.
For Thomas personally, this is a chance at a second act in the only organization he ever truly felt at home. The “IT” era in Boston was a legitimately special two-year run that fans still talk about. Coming back in this capacity lets him stay connected to that legacy while building something new for himself. Welcome back, IT.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
