Isaiah Thomas says Boston doesn’t want him back

According to Isaiah Thomas, the Boston Celtics will not consider bringing him back to a 10-day contract the way the Lakers and Mavericks have.

A COVID outbreak in December saw NBA teams bring qualified veterans back into the league, including the Boston Celtics. On December 22, the Celtics signed a contract Joe Johnson into a 10 day contract, contribute instantly with last basket in victory December 23.

But after his 10 days were over, Johnson was gone, and the Celtics doesn’t seem to want him back.

It is a similar situation for another former Celtic player who, despite feeling the love from the fans, does not expect to be signed by Boston anytime soon.

Isaiah Thomas believes he can lead the Celtics, but they won’t sign him

Like Johnson, Thomas has benefited from a scarcity of existing NBA players due to an increase in COVID cases. On December 13, Thomas signed with Grand Rapids Gold in the NBA G League before signing a 10-day contract with the Lakers on December 17 due to their difficult exception.

Through December 29, Thomas followed that with a 10-day contract with the Dallas Mavericks, which expires on January 7.

Celtics fans are organizing their own campaign to bring back Thomas, who played for the Celtics from 2015 to 2017. During his time in Boston, Thomas won the NBA All-Star twice and was named second-team All-NBA.

Even if the Celtics aren’t interested, the 32-year-old keeper has proven he still has the guts and talent to land a longer deal on the NBA roster. Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd noted Thomas’ persistence before the team called him to play for them in Sacramento.

“Those Seattleites can dance, wherever it is,” Kidd said. “If asked to play at the highest level, he would get on a plane and fly anywhere to play. That’s how he loves the game. He wants to get back into the league, so this is a great opportunity for him.”

Thomas was shopping for groceries when he got the call and got on a plane to hang out that night.

For now, Mavericks fans are happy to have him as long as he stays – but Celtics fans will also be happy to welcome him.