Isiah Thomas

• 1. Introduction

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  Isiah Lord Thomas III grew up on the West Side of Chicago, the youngest of nine children, in a household that would eventually be without his father. He started dribbling a basketball at age three. By his early twenties, he was one of the most feared point guards in professional basketball, wearing jersey number 11 for the Detroit Pistons for thirteen seasons without ever playing for another NBA team. What drove a kid from a Chicago West Side neighborhood to win two NBA championships, earn a spot on the NBA's 75th anniversary team, and still find himself passed over for the greatest Olympic squad ever assembled? And how did the same man who was voted Finals MVP also become the subject of one of the most damaging lawsuits in league history? The answers begin not in Detroit, but in a gym where a three-year-old boy was already performing at halftime.

• 2. West Side Origins

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  Mary Thomas raised Isiah and his eight siblings largely on her own on Chicago's West Side after Isiah Thomas II left the family when Isiah was young. The father had served in World War II, was wounded at the Battle of Saipan, and later became 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's slide into hardship followed. Mary Thomas became such a formidable figure in her son's life that in 1989 she was the subject of an Emmy award-winning television film, A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story. Isiah attended Our Lady of Sorrows School and then St. Joseph High School in Westchester, a commute of ninety minutes each way from his home. Playing for coach Gene Pingatore, he led St. Joseph to the state finals in his junior year, a performance that caught the attention of college recruiters across the country.

• 3. Bob Knight and Indiana

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  It was Mary Thomas who made the college decision: her son would play for Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. Thomas had to adapt to Knight's famously disciplinarian approach, and he did so quickly enough that fans gave him the nickname "Mr. Wonderful." Knight called him "Pee Wee." Alongside Mike Woodson, Thomas helped Indiana win a Big Ten championship and advance to the 1980 Sweet Sixteen. The following year, the Hoosiers claimed the 1981 NCAA tournament title, the school's fourth national championship. Thomas, still a sophomore, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He then declared for the NBA draft, and the Detroit Pistons selected him with the second overall pick, signing him to a four-year, $1.6 million contract. He chose number 11 because his childhood basketball hero, Sammy Puckett, had worn it.

• 4. Building the Bad Boys

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  On the 13th of December 1983, Thomas scored 47 points and handed out 17 assists in a 186-184 triple-overtime win over the Denver Nuggets, announcing to the league what Detroit had acquired. The climb to a championship was not linear. In the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals, with the Pistons holding a 1-point lead in Game 5 at Boston Garden and only 5 seconds remaining, Thomas tried to inbound the ball quickly after a Celtics turnover. Larry Bird stole the pass and hit Dennis Johnson for the layup that ended Detroit's season. A year later, in the 1988 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, Thomas scored 25 points in a single third quarter while playing on a severely sprained ankle, an NBA Finals record for a quarter. The Lakers still won that game 103-102 on a pair of last-minute free throws by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after a controversial foul on Bill Laimbeer, and then took Game 7 as well. In the 1988-89 season, Thomas and a roster that included Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, Vinnie Johnson, and Mark Aguirre finished 63-19 and swept the Lakers in the Finals to claim Detroit's first NBA championship. They repeated the following year, and Thomas was voted Finals MVP after averaging 27.6 points, 7.0 assists, and 5.2 rebounds per game in the 1990 Finals against Clyde Drexler's Portland Trail Blazers.

• 5. Rivalries and Exclusions

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  At the 1985 NBA All-Star Game, rookie Michael Jordan attempted only nine shots while playing alongside veteran stars including Larry Bird, Julius Erving, and Moses Malone. Reports circulated for years that veteran East players had deliberately withheld the ball from Jordan. Thomas has called that narrative "ludicrous", and during Jordan's Hall of Fame induction, Jordan himself said he was simply happy to be the young player surrounded by established greats. The rivalry deepened across four consecutive Eastern Conference Finals matchups, with Detroit eliminating Chicago each of the first three years. After the Pistons were swept in 1991 in what became their final playoff run under that core, Thomas and most of his teammates walked off the court with 7.9 seconds remaining in Game 4 rather than shake hands with the Bulls. Joe Dumars and John Salley did not join the walkout. The consequences extended beyond the court: Thomas was passed over for the 1992 Dream Team, with Magic Johnson later writing in When the Game Was Ours that he, Jordan, and other players had worked to keep Thomas off the roster. Thomas was eventually named to Dream Team II for the 1994 World Championship of Basketball, but a torn Achilles tendon on the 19th of April 1994 ended his playing career before he could participate. He was replaced by Kevin Johnson. When Jordan was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, he thanked Thomas for providing the competitive motivation he needed.

• 6. The Olympic Absence

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  Before the Dream Team controversy, Thomas had already experienced one Olympic exclusion beyond his control. He was selected for the 1980 U.S. Olympic basketball team, but the American boycott of the Moscow Games meant he never played. The boycotting countries instead competed in a "Gold Medal Series" against NBA teams, a French team, and the 1976 Olympic gold medal team in various American cities. Thomas shot 22-55 from the field and 14-17 from the free-throw line, led the U.S. squad in assists with 37 (the next highest total on the team was 17), and averaged 9.7 points per game. The U.S. went 5-1, losing only to the Seattle SuperSonics. In 2007, Thomas received one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created specifically for the athletes who had been denied their chance to compete.

• 7. Executive Ambitions and Their Costs

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  After retiring in 1994, Thomas joined the expansion Toronto Raptors as part owner and executive vice president, overseeing a tenure that included drafting Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, and high schooler Tracy McGrady. He left in 1998 after a dispute with new management. He then purchased the Continental Basketball Association for $10 million in 1999, pursuing a vision of internet-integrated fan engagement through live webcasts and personalized video highlights. When NBA rules required him to sell the CBA after he was hired to coach the Indiana Pacers in 2000, he refused the NBA's offer to buy it. The NBA responded by launching its own minor league, which stripped the CBA of a $2 million annual payment it had depended on. The league folded in bankruptcy in February 2001. The New York Times described his ownership as a case study in how not to run a business. At Indiana, Thomas succeeded Larry Bird and worked to develop younger players including Jermaine O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley. Bird returned to the Pacers as president and fired Thomas on the 27th of August 2003, replacing him with Rick Carlisle. Thomas arrived at the New York Knicks on the 22nd of December 2003 as president of basketball operations. By the end of the 2005-06 season, the team carried the league's highest payroll and its second-worst record. He traded several future draft picks to Chicago for Eddy Curry, picks that turned out to include LaMarcus Aldridge and Joakim Noah. In January 2006, former Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders filed a harassment lawsuit alleging Thomas had sexually harassed her and that she had been fired in retaliation. The case settled for $11.5 million. Thomas was fired as Knicks head coach on the 18th of April 2008 after posting a winning percentage of .341, fifth lowest in franchise history.

• 8. Legacy Beyond Basketball

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  When Thomas retired as a player in 1994, his 9,061 career assists ranked third in NBA history and his 1,861 steals ranked fifth. As of 2023, those 9,061 assists rank tenth, and his average of 9.3 assists per game ranks fifth all-time. He remains the Pistons' all-time leader in minutes played, points scored, assists, and steals. The Pistons retired his number 11 jersey in February 1996, and in May 2000 he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Michael Jordan, during an interview, called Thomas the second greatest point guard of all time, placing only Magic Johnson ahead of him. Off the court, Thomas founded Mary's Court, a West Side Chicago charity named for his mother that provides meals to children during Thanksgiving and runs an annual Holiday Toy Giveaway. The Peace League, which Thomas co-founded with Father Michael Pfleger in 2011, grew from a community basketball tournament in Chicago into a program offering GED classes, employment training, and internship opportunities. On the 13th of February 2017, Thomas received the AT&T Humanity of Connection Award at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. His son Marc Dones, born in 1986 from a paternity case that was settled through litigation, went on to serve as chief executive officer of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority in Washington state.