Brad Stevens Calls Isaiah Thomas' Tenure with Celtics 'Incredible'

Three days after the Boston Celtics traded Isaiah Thomas to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a package for Kyrie Irving, Boston head coach Brad Stevens had nothing but praise for his former point guard.

During a question-and-answer session at the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, Stevens had this response when asked by a fan why the Celtics traded Thomas, via ESPN.com's Chris Forsberg:

"What [Thomas] did in Boston the last 2½ years has been incredible. I said earlier what he's meant to me, what I think of him, how great he's been in the locker room, what kind of teammate he's been. Those are all really, really, really hard decisions. That's the hard part about being a professional basketball coach. I've stared at the wall many times and thought, 'Man, having guys in college for four years and knowing exactly when they're coming and going is a pretty good way of doing things.' So that's a tough one."

Stevens was Thomas' head coach for two-plus seasons after the Celtics acquired him from the Phoenix Suns prior to the trade deadline in February 2015.

Thomas helped lead the Celtics to the Eastern Conference's best record at 53-29 last season. They lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Cavaliers, and Thomas was forced to sit out the last three games due to a hip injury.

Over the past two seasons, the 28-year-old Thomas emerged as one of the NBA's best scoring point guards. He was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team twice and was voted to the All-NBA second team after averaging a career-high 28.9 points in 76 games last season.