Background and career
Isiah Lord Thomas III ( eye-ZAY-ə; born April 30, 1961), also known as "Zeke", is an American former professional basketball player who is a current analyst for NBA TV and Fox Sports. He played his entire professional career for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest point guards of all time, Thomas was a two-time NBA champion, an NBA Finals MVP recipient, a five-time All-NBA Team member, a 12-time NBA All-Star with two All-Star Game MVP awards and the 1985 NBA assist leader. He was named to the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams, and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000. From 2000 to 2012 he coached the Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks, and FIU. Thomas played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers, leading them to the 1981 NCAA championship as a sophomore and declaring for the NBA draft. He was taken as the second overall pick by the Pistons in the 1981 NBA draft, and played for them his entire career, while leading the "Bad Boys" to the 1988–89 and 1989–90 NBA championships. Following his playing career, Thomas was an executive with the Toronto Raptors, a television commentator, the owner of the Continental Basketball Association, the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, and an executive and head coach for the New York Knicks. He later served as men's basketball coach for the Florida International University (FIU) Golden Panthers for three seasons from 2009 to 2012. Thomas was a president and part owner of the Knicks' WNBA sister team, the New York Liberty, from 2015 to 2019.
Isiah Lord Thomas III is the son of Isiah Thomas II and Mary Thomas. The youngest of 9 children, Thomas was born on April 30, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up on the city's West Side. He started playing basketball at age three and would dribble and shoot baskets as the halftime entertainment at Catholic Youth Organization games. Thomas's father, Isiah Thomas II, was an army veteran wounded in the Battle of Saipan. He later attended trade school, eventually becoming the first black supervisor at International Harvester in Chicago. When the plant closed, the only work he could find was as a janitor; the family fell into hardship. Isiah Thomas II left the family when Isiah was a young child. Isiah Thomas III attended Our Lady of Sorrows School and St. Joseph High School in Westchester, which was a 90-minute commute from his home. Playing under coach Gene Pingatore, he led St. Joseph to the state finals in his junior year. His mother Mary was the subject of an Emmy award-winning television film in 1989, A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story.
Thomas was recruited to play college basketball for Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. Thomas's mother chose Knight and Indiana. Thomas had to adjust to Knight's disciplinarian style. Thomas quickly proved his skills as a player and became a favorite with both Knight and Indiana fans. Fans nicknamed him "Mr. Wonderful." "Pee Wee" was Knight's nickname for Thomas. Thomas and Mike Woodson led the Hoosiers to the Big Ten championship and advanced to the 1980 Sweet Sixteen. That year, Thomas and the Hoosiers once again won a conference title. In addition, the team won the 1981 NCAA tournament, the school's fourth national title. The sophomore earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award and made himself eligible for the upcoming NBA draft.
In the 1981 NBA draft, the Detroit Pistons chose Thomas with the second overall pick and signed him to a four-year, $1.6 million contract. Thomas wore a No. 11 jersey because his favorite youth basketball player, Sammy Puckett, had also done so. Thomas started for the Eastern Conference in the 1982 NBA All-Star Game and made the All-Rookie Team. On December 13, 1983, Thomas scored 47 points and recorded 17 assists during a 186–184 triple overtime win over the Denver Nuggets. In the opening round of the 1984 NBA playoffs, Thomas and the Pistons faced off against Bernard King and the New York Knicks. In the pivotal fifth game, Thomas scored 16 points in 94 seconds to force the game into overtime, but then fouled out, and the Knicks held on to win. In the 1985 NBA playoffs, Thomas and his team went to the conference semifinals against the 15-time NBA champion Boston Celtics led by future Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Dennis Johnson. Detroit would not shake the Celtics in their six-game series, eventually losing. In the 1987 NBA playoffs, Thomas and the Pistons went to the Eastern Conference Finals and faced the Celtics again. It was the furthest the team had advanced since moving from Fort Wayne. Detroit tied the Celtics at two games apiece, but its hope of winning Game 5 at Boston Garden was dashed by Larry Bird. After a Celtics turnover with 5 seconds remaining and the Pistons clinging to a 1-point lead, Thomas attempted to quickly inbound the ball, Bird stole the pass and hit Dennis Johnson for the game-winning layup. In 1988, the Pistons finally defeated the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and advanced to their first Finals in 32 years, in which many of the Celtics players walked off without shaking hands. Only Kevin McHale, while talking to Isiah, can be found shaking hands. That year they faced the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Before the series, Thomas and Johnson exchanged a courtside kiss on the cheek prior to tip-off as a sign of their deep friendship. After taking a 3–2 series lead back to Los Angeles, Detroit appeared poised to win their first NBA title in Game 6. One of Thomas's most inspiring and self-defining moments came in Game 6. Although he had severely sprained his ankle late in the game, Thomas continued to play. While hobbling and in obvious pain, Thomas scored 25 points in the third quarter, an NBA Finals record. But the Lakers won the game 103–102 on a pair of last-minute free throws by Abdul-Jabbar, following a controversial foul called on Bill Laimbeer. With Thomas unable to compete at full strength, the Lakers were able to take advantage and clinched their second consecutive title in Game 7, 108–105. In the 1988–89 season, Thomas, along with teammates Joe Dumars, Rick Mahorn, Vinnie Johnson, Dennis Rodman, James Edwards, John Salley, Bill Laimbeer, and Mark Aguirre, guided his team to a 63–19 record. Detroit played a brash and dominating brand of basketball through the playoffs that led to their nickname "Bad Boys". First, they defeated Boston, which had been suffering persistent injuries. After being down 2–1 against Michael Jordan and the up-and-coming Chicago Bulls in the Conference Finals, the Pistons utilized the Jordan Rules to limit Jordan's impact, which allowed them to defeat the Bulls in six games and advance to the finals yet again, setting up an NBA Finals rematch with the Lakers. This time the Pistons dominated, sweeping the Lakers in four games to win their first of back-to-back championships. In the 1989–90 season, Thomas and the Pistons had another dominant run. They finished the regular season as the #1 seed for the second straight year. After sweeping the Pacers and defeating the Knicks in five games, Thomas and the Pistons faced a tough seven-game series against the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Pistons prevailed and advanced to their third straight finals. The Pistons repeated as champions, by defeating Clyde Drexler's Portland Trail Blazers. Thomas was voted NBA Finals Most Valuable Player of the 1990 NBA Finals after averaging 27.6 points, 7.0 assists, and 5.2 rebounds per game. The 1990–91 season proved to be a struggle, as the team went through some injuries, with Thomas only playing 49 games in the regular season because of a wrist injury. The Pistons would win 50 games. Despite advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, they were no match for a more developed and determined Bulls who swept the two-time defending champions. In the last 7.9 seconds of Game 4, Thomas and most of his teammates walked off the court without shaking any of the Bulls' hands. In 1992, the Pistons made it to the playoffs, but were eliminated in five games by the New York Knicks in the first round. In 1993, the Pistons won just 40 games, missing the playoffs for the first time since the 1982–83 season. In the following season, an aging and ailing Thomas tore his Achilles tendon on April 19, 1994, forcing him to retire a month later.
In the 1985 NBA All-Star Game, Thomas was joined on the Eastern Conference squad by star rookie Michael Jordan. Jordan wound up attempting nine shots, relatively few for a starting player. Afterward, many veteran East players were accused of having planned to "freeze out" Jordan from their offense by not passing him the ball, supposedly out of spite over the attention Jordan was receiving. No player involved has ever confirmed that the freeze-out occurred, but the story has long been reported. Thomas has ridiculed the idea that he masterminded the supposed freeze-out as "ludicrous", pointing out that he was a relatively young player on a team that included Larry Bird, Julius Erving and Moses Malone. During Jordan's Hall of Fame induction, in which Thomas introduced John Stockton, who was also being inducted, Jordan dismissed the claims about a freeze-out having taken place, saying "I was just happy to be there, being the young guy surrounded by all these greats, I just wanted to prove myself and I hope that I did prove myself to you guys." In 1987, following a playoff loss to the Boston Celtics, Thomas was asked if he agreed with Dennis Rodman's comments that Larry Bird was overrated because he was white; Thomas agreed that if Bird was Black he "would be just another good guy" instead of being portrayed as the league's best player. Thomas later said he was joking and just supporting his teammate. In the Eastern Conference Finals of the 1991 NBA playoffs, the two-time defending champion Detroit Pistons faced the Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. The Pistons had eliminated the Bulls in each of the three previous years, but this time they suffered a four-game sweep at the hands of the Bulls (who would win the first of three consecutive, and six overall, NBA championships between 1991 and 1998). The series was marked by a number of verbal and physical confrontations. With 7.9 seconds remaining in the fourth game, Laimbeer organized a walk-out and Thomas and all of his teammates—except Joe Dumars and John Salley—walked off the court, refusing to shake hands with the Bulls, replicating what was done to them by the Celtics teams before. In 1992, Thomas was passed over for the Dream Team apparently because of his strained relationship with Jordan. In September 2009, during Jordan's Hall of Fame acceptance speech, Jordan thanked Thomas and others for giving him the motivation he needed to compete in the NBA.
Thomas was selected to the 1980 Olympic U.S. basketball team, but like all American athletes, he was not able to play in Moscow due to the Olympics boycott. The boycotting countries instead participated in the "Gold Medal Series", a series of games against NBA teams, a French team and the 1976 Olympic gold medal team in various U.S. cities, recording a 5–1 record (losing only to the Seattle SuperSonics). Thomas shot 22–55 from the field and 14–17 from the line. He led the U.S. in assists with 37 (the next highest total on the team was 17) and averaged 9.7 points per game. In 2007, Thomas received one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes. Despite his talent, Thomas was left off the original Olympic Dream Team, possibly as a result of an alleged feud with Michael Jordan. In the book When the Game Was Ours, Magic Johnson relates that he, Jordan and other players conspired to keep Thomas off the Dream Team. After Tim Hardaway left the team due to injury, Thomas was named to Dream Team II for the 1994 World Championship of Basketball, but did not play due to his Achilles tendon injury that eventually led to his retirement. He was replaced by Kevin Johnson.
