It wasn’t that long ago that Isaiah Thomas was an All-NBA player on the highest levels of basketball.
He has dazzling performances in the playoffs where he’s dropping 52 points and making history for the Boston Celtics — one of the most historic franchises in the NBA. This dude was legitimately good.
And now, just four seasons removed from that, he’s out of the NBA. It’s hard to fathom, really. His star burned so bright and then went out, seemingly, just as quickly.
But he hasn’t given up on making a comeback and returning to form. And he’s also still really good at basketball.
So good, in fact, that he dropped 81-points in Jamal Crawford’s Crawsover Pro-Am League. That dude can still ball, man.
ISAIAH THOMAS JUST DROPPED 81 POINTS 😵 @isaiahthomas @thecrawsover pic.twitter.com/csaVda2RjE
— Overtime (@overtime) August 8, 2021
He had 40 at the half.
IT has 40 POINTS at halftime rn 🤮 @isaiahthomas @thecrawsover pic.twitter.com/kufS1LwdvY
— Overtime (@overtime) August 8, 2021
After all of that, he had an incredibly emotional moment where he reflected on everything and said everyone “gave up on me.”
*Warning: There is some NSFW language in this video and the tweets that follow it*
Isaiah Thomas scored 81 points and got emotional about the league giving up on him 😢
(h/t @crossedsportsig) pic.twitter.com/lFIk0i3kEx
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) August 11, 2021
“They gave up on me.”
Those simple words mean so much for Thomas. People took that as him meaning the NBA gave up on him, but he explained what he meant on Twitter.
It wasn’t just the NBA he was talking about. He said that everyone gave up on him. And his 81-point game was confirmation to him that he’s still got it.
I wasn’t showing y’all a snippet of me being emotional so y’all can feel sorry 4 me. Hell no!!! My life is GREAT!! I was showing y’all that to see what it feels like to give everything you have to something you love and to see it slowly coming back where it’s suppose to be TMC 🏁
— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) August 11, 2021
That emotion was tied up from the last 4yrs battling every single day!!! I ain’t talking about the “league” giving up on me lol. THE WORLD GAVE UP ON ME & WAS SHITTING ON ME WHILE I WAS DOWN AND OUT!! When you love something you’ll do whatever it takes to get that!!! I’m back 🏁
— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) August 11, 2021
Energy on a 10!!!!! Let’s get to it
— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) August 11, 2021
This is awesome, man. I’m ready to run through a brick wall. It’s really hard not to root for him on his journey to make it back to the league.
Maybe one day, he’ll get a shot at the NBA again. Maybe he won’t. But one thing is certain: He won’t stop working for it.
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