Report: NBA players believe Celtics did Isaiah Thomas wrong

LeBron James, Ray Allen and Caron Butler noted the hypocrisy of fans expecting players to remain loyal to teams, but not teams to remain loyal to players.

They apparently weren’t the only ones to see an issue around the Celtics trading Isaiah Thomas in the Kyrie Irving blockbuster.

Chris Haynes on ESPN:

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 Boston 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.

It’s fine that the Celtics traded Thomas, just as it would have been fine for him to leave in free agency next summer. Is it a little sad the mutually beneficial relationship between the team and player ended, especially after he recruited Al Horford and Gordon Hayward to Boston? Sure.

But everyone will get over it – including the players aggrieved on Thomas’ behalf. If they become free agents and Boston makes the best offer, they’ll take it. This isn’t grudge-worthy.

The business can be unpleasant at times, and people get upset in the throes of transactions. But then the dust settles, and everyone moves on.