On Saturday, Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas reaffirmed his desire and deservedness for a max contract. From Stephen Hewitt of the Boston Herald:
Thomas was asked how confident he is that he’ll get the max money he’s seeking.
“Very confident,” he said Saturday during his annual basketball clinic at BU, where he hosted more than 400 campers. “I deserve it. I put the work in, and you can put me down against any guard in the NBA. … My numbers are up there with the best players in the world, and my team is winning. So, I mean, you have to reward that.
“At the end of the day I’m not too worried about it. I only talk about it when people bring it up, so everybody’s always like, ‘He’s always talking.’ I’m not talking about it unless somebody brings it up. I’m just going to keep working though. My time is gonna come. I have a lot of faith in God, and I just have to keep working to get better.”
Thomas says that GM Danny Ainge is aware of his feelings (which seems obvious; Ainge has internet):
“He knows,” Thomas said. “Everybody knows. That’s just what it is. But we have a great relationship. Me and Danny and the Celtics organization, and I always said I would love to be here, but as everybody knows, it’s a business, and at the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for you just like the business is going to do what’s best for them, and that’s all I can say on that.”
Thomas is a star and wants to be paid like one. The 5-foot-8 guard averaged 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game last season and was named to his second consecutive All-Star team, as well as his first All-NBA Team (Second Team).
Thomas’ height lends to an inherent deficiency on defense, which is the reason that there’s any sort of discussion on whether he deserves a max contract; any other player averaging those sort of numbers would have the max thrown at him instantly.
