BIG LITTLE MAN

He won’t be on the floor when the season starts, but Cleveland’s new 5' 9" high-scoring, hard-grinding point guard Isaiah Thomas will loom large over the season as he tries to return in time to push the Cavs past the Warriors—and prove to the Celtics that giving up on him was a mistake

LEE JENKINS

A GREEN-AND-GRAY mini basketball sits on a bed of sand-colored rocks next to the pool in the backyard. The ball belongs to five-year-old Jaiden Thomas, son of Isaiah Thomas, whose name and image grace the side of it. Jaiden brought the ball from Boston to Cleveland, a reminder that his father used to play for the Celtics and played so well they sold souvenirs with his picture on them. Jaiden’s family does not have a hoop at their new home in Westlake, Ohio, a twostory brick traditional with a circular driveway framed by oak trees. So if they want to shoot, they cross the quiet street to the Strong residence. “Excuse me,” Isaiah said, when he first knocked on the Strongs’ front door one overcast afternoon in late September. “Can…

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Sports Illustrated (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 16, 2017

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