Former Celtics floor general Isaiah Thomas signs a 10-day deal with the Phoenix Suns

Thomas is back in the NBA after a long time on the outside looking in.

Former Boston Celtics All-Star floor general Isaiah Thomas is back in the NBA after a long time on the outside looking in. The onetime King In the Fourth is reportedly inking a deal to join a Western Conference contender, according to recent reporting from The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

“IT is back: 11-year vet and two-time All-Star Isaiah Thomas is planning to sign a 10-day contract with the Phoenix Suns,” writes Charania of Thomas, who has been playing with the Utah Jazz’ G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, as he pushed to earn such an opportunity with a team that would give him some floor time.

“Thomas averaged 33 points on 45% 3-point shooting for Salt Lake City in the NBA G League, scoring 30 in 4 games,” adds The Athletic reporter.

“Thomas totaled performances of 32, 30, 34 and 34 points in his four G League games for Salt Lake City, making 25 of 56 3-pointers, and now is set to provide shooting, playoff experience and veteran leadership to the Suns.”

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Former King in the Fourth Isaiah Thomas on why he chose the G League for an NBA comeback

“Ultimately I’m just fighting for an opportunity,” said IT.

The Boston Celtics’ former King in the Fourth is back in the NBA ecosystem. There’s much buzz in the league media on how Isaiah Thomas has signed a deal to play for the Utah Jazz’ developmental affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars. It is inked for the rest of this season as he gears up for a push to return to an NBA roster for the postseason.

“Ultimately I’m just fighting for an opportunity, I’m just trying to show teams that I’m still able to produce on the court, but I’m also most importantly, I’m able to teach these young guys,” explained the man himself in a recent interview on “FanDuel’s Run It Back” podcast.

As to why he is electing to pursue a comeback via the G League instead of playing overseas, Thomas revealed it was more than a basketball decision.

“Overseas is really dope,” he said. “I see those games, I love the game of basketball. It’s just at this point in my life, with my family and my kids, it’d be really hard to go overseas, unless they were giving out 10-day contracts, and then I could make it happen.”

“I think this is the quickest route to get back in the NBA, and to get on a playoff roster by the end of the season,” IT added.

Fans of the Celtics can’t help but wonder if he might be a good fit for Boston’s 15th roster spot. But even if that unlikely pairing does not come to fruition, we wish him the best in getting back to the league he loves so much.

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Shams: Former Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas to sign with Utah Jazz G League squad

Reunited with his former team president in Boston with Danny Ainge now calling the shots in Utah, this could be Thomas’ last, best chance to get back into the NBA.

Former Boston Celtics floor general Isaiah Thomas is not back in the NBA, but the former King in the Fourth is as close as one can get without actually being in the league. According to recent reporting from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the former Celtics point guard, in “pursuit of NBA return for stretch run, 11-year veteran Isaiah Thomas is joining the Utah Jazz’s G League affiliate Salt Lake City Stars.”

“The two-time All-Star could be another guard option in (the) marketplace” for teams looking for cheap veteran talent ahead of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, notes Charania of IT’s potential path back into the Association.

Reunited with his former team president in Boston with Danny Ainge now calling the shots in Utah, this could be Thomas’ last, best chance to get back into the NBA for the first time since 2022.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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On this day: Bird goes for 32 points, Tatum 33 more, and IT for 33; Vaughn passes

Feb. 26 has long been a big day for scorers on the Celtics.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, three scoring greats of the storied franchise had games of note on the offensive side of the court dating all the way back to the late 1980s.

The first of the three scoring fiestas in question was put together by Boston’s iconic Hall of Fame small forward Larry Bird. He exploded on a hapless Milwaukee Bucks squad visiting the Celtics at the old Boston Garden on this date in Boston, Massachusetts in 1988. The Bucks would lose in no small part due to The Hick from French Lick’s (as Bird was sometimes called affectionately) scoring in a massive, 132-96 blowout.

Bird hung 32 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, and a block on the Bucks, hitting 13-of-20 field goal attempts and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc that night, leading all scorers.

Isaiah Thomas has interest in Boston’s 15th roster spot

The former Boston Celtics guard would welcome a return to the team as their 15th man.

The Boston Celtics ensured they kept an empty roster spot at the trade deadline. Despite making moves for Xavier Tillman and Jaden Springer, Brad Stevens opted to send talent out, rather than utilizing the team’s traded player exception. As such, the Celtics are expected to be participants in the buy-out market.

However, former Celtics fan favorite Isaiah Thomas has recently thrown his name into the ring for that final roster spot. The diminutive point guard noted how his leadership on the bench could help elevate Boston’s push for a championship. His comments came in response to a fan’s post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“My leadership alone would put this team over the hump!” Thomas said in his reply. “I don’t even have to play a single minute. Just give me a jersey LOL.”

Thomas has been out of the NBA since leaving the Charlotte Hornets in 2022. He has continued posting footage of his workouts and remains an active participant within the basketball community on social media.

For some fans, bringing Thomas back to the Celtics for the stretch run and potentially putting him in a position to win a championship ring would be the ideal way to honor what he gave to the team during his tenure.

The Celtics have been judicial in their moves since Stevens entered his front office role. As such, it’s unlikely that Thomas will return to the Celtics, even if it would provide a boost to the locker room and the wider fan base.

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On this day: Celtics trade for Isaiah Thomas; trade for Atkins, Hunter

On this day in Celtics history, the team dealt for IT, and nine years before that, for Chucky Atkins and Lindsey Hunter.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, the team traded forward Tayshaun Prince to the Detroit Pistons in 2015 in exchange for power forward Jonas Jerebko and small forward GiGi Datome. As part of the deal, the Celtics also sent guard Marcus Thornton to the Phoenix Suns. In turn, the Suns sent a young point guard fighting for playing time in their crowded backcourt rotation to the Celtics in exchange for Thornton’s services.

That floor general was none other than the future King in the Fourth, Isaiah Thomas, who was unhappy about having to compete with fellow Phoenix guards Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe to get on the court with the Suns.

IT carved out a starting role quickly with his new team, eventually becoming a part of Celtics lore himself with multiple deep playoff runs with the franchise.

Every Boston Celtics All-Star for each season the game was played

Every single Boston Celtics All-Star in franchise history.

The 2024 NBA All-Star Game is set to kick off in Indianapolis, Indiana. A pair of Boston Celtics will be part of the action for the third year in a row as Jayson Tatum plays as a starter and Jaylen Brown a reserve for the Eastern Conference All-Stars.

Tatum and Brown join a long list of Celtics stars who have participated in the event, now entering its 73rd year of existence, which actually got its start in the old Boston Garden. Initially created to improve the image of professional basketball after a point-shaving scandal in NCAA ball besmirched the sport in the eyes of the public, the event has taken on a life of its own as one of the league’s most anticipated events.

Let’s take a look at all the Celtics who have taken part.

A visual history of the Boston Celtics in the Skills Challenge

The event, which tests a player’s ball-handling, passing and shooting ability, is arguably the hardest to succeed at.

As far as NBA All-Star Week competitions go, the league’s Taco Bell Skills Challenge is a relative newcomer after having been introduced for the first time at the 2003 All-Star Game. This year, there will be no Boston Celtics players participating in the 2024 Skills Challenge, however.

Still, it has had a decent number of Celtics players try their hand at winning the contest, though only one — a current Boston player, at that — has taken home the hardware. The event, which tests a player’s ball-handling, passing and shooting ability, is arguably both the hardest to succeed at, yet is also the least popular of the three major individual competitions of the various events held in the week’s festivities.

Let’s review the franchise’s history competing in the event.

On this day: Bird triple doubles vs. Lakers; Pierce for 35 vs. Clippers; IT ties 20-point game record

On this day in Celtics history, Larry Bird triple-doubled vs. the Lakers, Paul Pierce scored 35 points on the Clippers, and Isaiah Thomas tied John Havlicek for the most regular-season 20-point games.

On this day in Boston Celtics history in 1991, Hall of Fame Boston Celtics small forward Larry Bird scored a triple-double against the Celtics’ longtime rival Los Angeles Lakers on the road at the Los Angeles Forum in Inglewood, California as Boston won 98-85.

The Hick from French Lick (as Bird is called affectionately as a nickname) put on a show, scoring 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists in 40 minutes of game time. It wasn’t Bird’s most efficient night from the floor, with the Celtics great hitting just 4-of-16 of his field goal attempts and only a single make out of a trio of attempts from beyond the arc. But the Indiana native found other ways to help his team win.

Teammate Robert Parish led the team in scoring with 29 points and 10 boards, and forward Reggie Lewis chipped in 26 points as well.

On this day: Boston Celtic guards Isaiah Thomas, Milt Palacio born

On this day in Celtics history: point guards Isaiah Thomas and Milt Palacio were born.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, former Celtics fan favorite floor general Isaiah Jamar Thomas — also known as IT — was born in Tacoma, Washington back in 1989. The Tacoma native would play his NCAA ball with the University of Washington Huskies, picked up with the 60th and final pick of the 2011 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings.

IT would play stints there and with the Phoenix Suns before being traded to the Celtics for Marcus Thornton and draft assets as part of a major three-team deal. The King in the Fourth (as Thomas was often called as a nickname due to his late-game scoring prowess) would quickly become an offensive force with the Celtics.

He would play three seasons with Boston between 2015 and 2017.