Regret: Thomas Jr. said that if he can do it again, he will not play for the Celtics with injuries

On June 13, the second game of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals, when Isaiah Thomas insisted on playing with a buttock injury, the audience at the TD Garden Arena in Boston burst into tsunami applause. The "King of the Last Quarter" who was only 1.75 meters tall gritted his teeth and completed the warm-up, but was helped to leave the field because he could not bear the severe pain in the third quarter of the game. Today, eight years later, Thomas Jr., who has faded out of the NBA, admitted in an interview: "If time could go back, I would never choose to play with injuries. That decision completely changed my career trajectory. "

Back in the 2016-17 season, Thomas Jr. played the most brilliant performance in his career. He averaged 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game in the regular season, and averaged 9.8 points per game in the fourth quarter, leading the Celtics to the first record in the Eastern Conference with 53 wins. In the grief of his sister's death in a car accident, he still insisted on playing in the first round of the playoffs and comforted his relatives with his 33-point performance in a single game. This iron-blooded spirit makes Boston fans regard him as the embodiment of the contemporary "cardinale". The team general manager Danny Angie even promised in public that he would "will use trucks to transport money to renew his contract with him."

However, fate turned in the 2017 Eastern Conference semi-finals. In the series against the Wizards, Thomas Jr. suffered a tear of the right hip labrum. Medical reports show that the injury requires at least 6-8 weeks of rest, but the Celtics faced strong challenges from the Cavaliers at that time. "The team doctor told me that I could play closed," Thomas Jr. recalled, "They said it was for the team, for the city." Under the paralysis of painkiller needles, he insisted on playing in the first two games with the Cavaliers, still averaging 20.5 points per game, but his movement speed dropped significantly. Geoffrey Cooper, a famous sports medicine expert, later analyzed: "Walking with an injury caused irreversible damage to his hip load-bearing surface, and this compensatory injury eventually destroyed his explosive power. "

It is sad that when Thomas Jr. underwent surgery in the summer of 2017, the Celtics quickly traded him to the Cavaliers for Irving. Angie's explanation is "business decision", but this decision completely shattered Thomas's perception of loyalty. During his four years of playing in the Cavaliers, Lakers, Nuggets and other teams, his average score plummeted from 28.9 points to 8.7 points, and finally faded out of the league in 2022. Compared with Warriors star Curry, who also suffered a hip injury, who chose to recover completely for 8 months and remained at his peak after his return.

"I will now tell all young players that health should always be the first priority." Thomas Jr. choked on the podcast. His case has attracted the attention of the NBA player union, and a "Player Health Autonomy Terms" have been added to the new 2023 labor agreement. Current Celtics coach Mazula admitted: "The team's culture at that time emphasized the spirit of sacrifice, and now we will evaluate the risk of injury more scientifically. "

When participating in the Big3 League in 2025, Thomas Jr. was still able to show accurate three-point shooting, but the breakthrough speed was no longer as good as before. When he saw the Celtics new generation defender Pritchard refuses to play in key games with injuries, he expressed his gratitude: "This shows that the league is improving. Basketball is work, not death." Behind this awakening is a realistic fable about the cruelty of professional sports - when the passion fades, what is left is often cold business calculations and incurable pain.