Thomas, a two-time All-Star and all-time Celtics favorite despite just 179 games with the franchise, reflected on his thinking during that fateful injury.
“For me, if I had all the situation, I would have sat out,” he said. “If anybody knows the situation, I didn’t have any of the information. I was obviously misdiagnosed with what I was going through. As a competitor I am going to always want to play but if somebody had told me and sat down with me [and said] ‘This can change the trajectory of your career, this could make things worse.’, I’m not stupid and my representation is not stupid. I would have probably made a wise decision and healed up.
“But you live and you learn. I’m older now and I’m wiser. I’m glad that a situation like that has helped other people, especially players, and you have more power than you think you have. Your health is more important to your individual situation and not that team. Obviously I’ve seen guys talk about it and that’s still inspiring to itself, to be able to be a positive light in somebody’s story.”
Thomas said he heard from athletes from different sports for advice on how to deal with their hip injuries.He had multiple procedures to repair the hips and said he’s now 100 percent.
“I always give them the 100 percent honest answer, I’m the guy people come to when it comes to that and I’m fine with that,” he said. “I understand now more than I did when I was going through it and if I had all the information, yes, a different decision would have been made. But it’s always ‘if.’ I’m in a positive space right now. I’m moving forward. I’m super healthy so I got no complaints and my life is super blessed.”
Thomas said he is healthy because he still has the desire to play in the NBA again. In stops with Charlotte and Phoenix, he served as a veteran presence and mentor, erasing concerns that he would be clamoring for playing time or be a potential distraction.
NBA teams have been more prone in recent years to sign veterans such as Garrett Temple in Toronto or Deandre Jordan in New Orleans or Kyle Lowry in Philadelphia or Joe Ingles in Minnesota to help with the nurturing of younger players.
“I want to play one more year,” Thomas said. “I want to be able to put on a jersey and mentally end it on my own. I feel that good and I know I’m able to produce for a team whether it’s on the floor or whether it’s a veteran presence in the locker room. Ultimately my No. 1 goal is to get back in. I’m staying ready but also figuring out things that are happening throughout my life that are positive as well.”
Through his AAU program, Thomas is coaching his two sons in basketball. James is a freshman prospect in the Tacoma area while Jaiden is a young man of multiple sports.
“Coaching was never in my forefront so being able to coach my kids and putting them in the position to be successful, and any kid in my program, they are my kids, I’m grateful to be able to give back to the game,” Thomas said. “But still being able to bust them kids when they try me always puts a smile on my face as well but they still know now to go that route. I still got it.”
Thomas said his sons picked up a love for the game during his NBA career. There were times when he would bring the boys up to the podium during his Celtics press conferences.
“This isn’t something that they’re doing just because I did it,” he said. “I think early on maybe. My oldest son got genuine love for the game. That’s all he plays. My youngest plays soccer, basketball, does [music] beats. He does a little bit of everything. But he’s still got a love for the game. My biggest thing is if you love it and want to do this long term, I got the answers to the test. I got the formula to put you in the position to do whatever you want to go.
“I’m right there with them, whatever direction they want to go.”
At age 36, Thomas knows his prime years are in the past, but he still has something to give to the game. It’s difficult for aging players to get back into the league. There has to be the right situation, the right general manager and coach. The front office has to believe that a veteran can enhance the culture, help younger players, and sacrifice his own game for that of the team.
Thomas has proved capable of that throughout his career. Playing on that damaged hip cost him prime years of his career and perhaps a chance to play with the likes of Jayson Tatum had Danny Ainge decided to keep him following the 2017 season. Thomas said he and his agent, Sam Goldfeder, have expressed to teams the interest in an NBA return. During his last NBA stint, Thomas spent time in the G League to prove he’s still capable of playing with league-caliber talent.
“We stay consistently speaking to NBA teams,” he said. “And I would love to go overseas but it’s a tough situation for me because my kids are a little older and I don’t like missing a lot of things they’ve got going. But I don’t want to shut down that [overseas] option either. I would love to go there for the experience, be in the right city, be in the right situation and play a year over there.
“I like playing the game of basketball and I don’t take that situation for granted. I’m just making sure everybody knows I’m still ready. I’m still sharp. I’m only 36 and you see the top dogs at 36 or 37 and what they’re still doing. I can impact the game they do as well. Given my experiences and everything I’ve been through, I think a young guard could be helped with that.”
HELPLESS SITUATION?
New Pelicans president Joe Dumars fired coach Willie Green on Nov. 15, a move many around the league expected to occur during the summer. Green couldn’t overcome all the obstacles in coaching a franchise that can’t seem to get any luck or make sound decisions.
The Pelicans were 2-10 when they replaced Green with former Hornets coach James Borrego and have since lost four more games.
But it’s hard to argue that Green should have been more successful. Zion Williamson, the franchise cornerstone, played in just six of the first 15 games because of a hamstring injury and has been perpetually injured throughout his career. Dejounte Murray is recovering from a torn Achilles and previous management decided to move Most Improved Player Dyson Daniels to Atlanta in the deal to acquire Murray.
Dumars also made the curious move to acquire mercurial guard Jordan Poole from the Wizards for the expiring contract of CJ McCollum, and Poole has missed eight games with a quadriceps injury. Dumars, just off a tenure as the league’s discipline czar and having built those 2000s Pistons teams that reached eight consecutive Eastern Conference finals, has to explain to an exhausted fan base how this rebuild is going to be different.
Making this resurrection more difficult is a draft-night trade Dumars made with the Hawks to acquire a first-round pick to take Maryland’s Derik Queen. While Queen has been solid, the Pelicans do not own their first-round pick in the 2026 draft, believed to be the deepest since 2003.
“We don’t have the pick so there’s no level of me being concerned about it now,” Dumars said. “I’m not worried about the pick that we don’t have.”
Dumars had acquired the original 2025 first-round pick from Indiana for a first-round pick in 2026 that was originally the Pacers. Considering the Pacers are one of the league’s worst teams, that could be in the top five. The trade was made during the NBA Finals and of course, Dumars assumed the Pacers would be a power and that pick would be a late first-rounder, but Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles, Myles Turner signed with the Bucks, and the Pacers quickly sunk.
With those faux paus already on his record, Dumars is determined to move forward to change the culture. Green is considered one of the NBA’s good guys but couldn’t get the Pelicans to play a consistent style or consistently hard.
“We start losing the same way over and over again and that’s not improvement,” Dumars said. “We have to establish we are going to play hard every night. That’s still what I’m looking for right now. Taking accountability and not shying away from it and that’s what we want to do here and that’s really what went into the decision.”
Dumars maintains that it wasn’t lack of on-court success that led to Green’s demise. The Pelicans weren’t trending in a positive direction. In late October, the winless Celtics went to New Orleans and the Pelicans battled for three quarters before finally relenting in a 32-point loss.
“It wasn’t the win and loss record as the ultimate determining factor,” Dumars said. “It was we have to establish who we are going to be in New Orleans moving forward and I just did not see that happening. That more than anything else was the determining factor here. I did not see us establishing anything of an identity of who we were going to be.
“When that becomes the reason you make a move like this, that also becomes the litmus test for the next coach. You want someone smart and who can communicate. You want all those things. There are some staples to winning, tough, resilient, you have to defend, you have to have enough offense.”
Borrego did interview for the Knicks job and is considered a solid NBA coach, but it may take a miracle worker to succeed in New Orleans. The Pelicans won’t have any salary cap relief until after the 2026-27 season when the salaries of Poole and potentially Murray come off the books.
Dumars said he wanted to give Green a legitimate chance with this team but the Pelicans just weren’t good at anything.
“You can’t sit in this seat and be one foot in and one foot out,” Dumars said. “I told Willie I was all in with you and I was until we made the decision. And now I’m all in with [Borrego]. I also said you want to build a team that doesn’t have to depend on one player and that’s not going to change with me. Yes, we have an incredible talent in Zion but that’s not how the team is built and that’s not going to be a factor moving forward.
“We’re not status quo people. We look at it, we see it, it’s not getting better. The only thing I can say to the fans and the media, status quo is never going to be acceptable. It’s not. We’re not going to operate like that.”
Dumars brought up a story about the great Aretha Franklin, the singing legend who was his neighbor in Detroit. He asked her how she deals with less than capacity crowds and she told him she would give her best performance regardless of the audience because they deserved her best. Dumars translated that to basketball.
“Whether it’s 1,000 people or 20,000 people, we are in to win and we’re obsessed with this,” he said. “It’s pretty tough to turn this around in six months. We’ve been here six or seven months and this is part of the work. This is part of the heavy lift that takes place. There are going to be some bumps along the way. You can’t get discouraged when things don’t go as planned. We are as committed and as obsessed with this as we can possibly be.”
Matters just got worse for the Mavericks, who announced this past week that guard Dante Exum will miss the rest of the season after needing another knee procedure. Exum was a valuable bench piece on the team that reached the 2024 NBA Finals but has never been able to stay healthy throughout his career. After playing all 82 games with the Jazz during his rookie season, he missed the next season with injury. He returned to play 66 games in his third season but has played no more than 55 since. To fit Exum in their cap for this season, the Mavericks had to waive former first-round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who was picked up by the Grizzlies … The Lakers are cleaning house with new ownership, firing two Buss brothers as scouts as the Mark Walter administration begins. The twist to the removals is that they were performed by Jeanie Buss, who is still in charge of basketball operations despite giving up a portion of ownership. The Lakers are in a good place on the floor but they have not had successful drafts in recent years, with 2024 first-round pick Dalton Knecht almost being traded during his rookie season while 2023 pick Jalen-Hood Schifino was part of the Luka Doncic deal and is out of the NBA … A team to watch on the trade market is the Pistons, who have soared to the top of the Eastern Conference with an 11-game winning streak and could pursue players to upgrade their roster for a potential NBA Finals run. The Pistons could use another scoring wing to join All-Star Cade Cunningham but management will wait to see how the team fares when healthy. Jaden Ivey is in the final stages of rehabbing a knee injury while Cunningham and Tobias Harris missed time during this winning streak. The Pistons come to Boston on Wednesday for an NBA Cup Group B game.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.