When the Cleveland Cavaliers first visited the TD Garden in Boston earlier this season, the Celtics had arranged to show a video tribute in honor of Isaiah Thomas. However, because Thomas was not playing, he requested that the team save the video for a later date when his family would be in attendance.
The next time the Cavs visit Boston will be on February 11th, and there will definitely be a tribute video, but it won't be in celebration of Isaiah Thomas' time with the Celtics.
Paul Pierce's jersey retirement ceremony is scheduled to take place on that night and he will be the only player honored by the Celtics. Pierce has publicly said that he doesn't want to share his special night with Thomas, and says the team only wants to appease IT3 because they feel sorry about how the trade went down.
Yesterday afternoon, #34 explained some of the conversation he had with Celtics' GM Danny Ainge.
Per ESPN:
"Danny and I talked about it for 40 minutes," Pierce explained to ESPN early Tuesday afternoon. "He told me, 'This is what we have planned,' and at the end of the conversation, he said, 'If you don't want us to do Isaiah, we won't.' So I told him, 'I really don't.' So that was it.
"That's how we left it."
"(Thomas) had a shot to be honored," Pierce said. "You came to Boston. Whether you are playing or not, you should have had your tribute then. I just don't see how, if someone is having a jersey retirement, they're going to be running other tributes for other players.
"Danny tried to sell me on it, but I told him, 'He had a shot, Danny, and he punked you on it. He pretty much dictated everything.' They let it happen because they felt sorry how (the trade to Cleveland) went down. It's guilt. That's what it is."
Ainge said that the Isaiah Thomas video tribute would've only been shown during the pregame introductions, but they've since scrapped all plans to honor anyone other than #34.
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