The bombshell trade between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics this week has been widely described as “The Kyrie Irving Trade” and with good reason. After all, Irving was the player that captured the NBA attention for a full month after asking to be traded away from the team that selected him No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft. However, the Cavaliers will be acquiring a (very) good return in exchange for Irving and the headliner of Cleveland’s haul is All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas.
Now, though, Thomas will face a number of challenges in playing alongside LeBron James in Cleveland, including a specific nudge from Kobe Bryant as he promotes his new sneaker release to make the All-NBA First Team in his debut season with a new team.
https://twitter.com/kobebryant/status/900719371424641026
It will be an uphill battle for Thomas to replicate his off-the-charts production from 2016-2017 in Boston, especially given the fact that he is recovering from a hip injury. With that said, Bryant and Thomas have history together that includes the “Black Mamba” helping Thomas break down game film during the 2017 Playoffs and even an amusing story about Thomas attempting to guard the bigger, stronger Bryant in his first NBA game.
The two men may not seem like natural friends given their differing basketball profiles but Thomas has displayed real confidence and fight in ascending to a perch as a top-tier player despite all odds. That certainly aligns with Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality” and Thomas seems to be the kind of player that would turn a trade away from Boston into real motivation even without a prompt from an all-time NBA great. An All-NBA First Team nod may not be in the offing but it seems safe to assume that Thomas will do everything in his power to give it a shot.
