WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 07: Isaiah Thomas #4 of the Boston Celtics reacts after a call in the second half against the Washington Wizards in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Verizon Center on May 7, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Isaiah Thomas will finally get to play his first game as a Cleveland Cavalier this week.
The Cavs announced Monday that the All-Star guard will make his debut in Tuesday night’s home game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Thomas — who was traded from the Boston Celtics in August as part of a multi-player blockbuster deal that also included Kyrie Irving — has missed Cleveland’s first 36 games of the season due to a hip injury. His previous appearance was in Game 2 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, which is when he sustained the injury. It was actually a re-aggravation of a right femoral-acetabular impingement with labral tear he suffered during a March 2017 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Cavs (24-12) are third in the Eastern Conference, and have lost three straight contests.
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Thomas, who will be 29 in February, set career highs with 28.9 points and a shooting percentage of 46.3 in 76 games with the Celtics last season.
On Tuesday, Thomas lashed out at a Boston Bruins reporter on Twitter after the latter criticized the guard’s refusal to let the Celtics honor him with a tribute video in Wednesday night’s game against the Cavs at TD Garden. The owner, Jimmy Murphy, said he believed Thomas is even more pretentious than his new teammate LeBron James, whom Thomas called “the best player in the world” at his introductory press conference in September.
Thomas rapidly explained his decision in an angry retort:
The Cavaliers play in Boston just one more time this season, on Feb. 11. Cleveland trails Boston by four games for first place in the East, and the Toronto Raptors by one game for second.
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 07: Isaiah Thomas #4 of the Boston Celtics reacts after a call in the second half against the Washington Wizards in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Verizon Center on May 7, 2017 in Washington, DC.
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