Isiah Thomas was one of the most polarizing stars the NBA has ever seen. From his smile that would rub off on anyone to his incredible ball-handling skills that memorized all that watched him play. Thomas was a star.
Isiah Thomas didn’t grow up as a star, though. He didn’t have things handed to him. In fact, like many who grew up on the west side of Chicago, Thomas struggled with his surroundings.
So, how did Thomas make it out of a gang-infested area to become one of the NBA’s greats? Stick around, and you’ll find out here.
Fadeaway World presents the biography of Pistons’ legend Isiah Thomas.
A Harsh Beginning For Zeke Leads To Stardom At College
Isiah Thomas, also known as Zeke, was born on April 30, 1961, and was the youngest of nine children. He was the son of Isiah Lord Thomas II, a plant supervisor, and Mary Thomas, a school kitchen worker.
The family lived a fair life at first, as Thomas’ father’s job paid well. This would all change when Isiah II lost his job. After this, Isiah II worked as a janitor just to get by, but it wasn’t enough.
Isiah II made much less money than he did working as a plant supervisor, and this caused friction at home with his family. There were many nights when Isiah II would take his anger out on Mary and his children.
After a while, Mary and Isiah II split up, and all of the responsibility of taking care of nine kids fell on the shoulders of Mary Thomas.
“You’re not going to hear nothing from me about [my husband],” Mary said in a 1989 interview with the Chicago Tribune. “It was up to me to raise my kids. Let’s just say I did it myself.”
“I had a budget,” Mary recalled, about how she was able to take care of her family. “And there were lots of times we’d eat only fair beans and grits-so my children could go to school. We’d sit around the table and have meetings and talk about why they couldn’t get shoes, and they would understand.”
Mary did all she could to take care of her family. She worked many jobs, including working in a school’s kitchen and gymnasium. Mary also worked in the community youth center and for the Housing Authority of the City of Chicago.
As a child, Isiah Thomas would play basketball at West Side pocket park to stay out of trouble. Thomas would watch, learn, and play with his older brother, Lord Henry, who was a star player in the area.
Thomas would even sneak into Lord’s high school to watch him play in his high school basketball games. The area Thomas lived in was overrun by drugs and violence, but Thomas didn’t need drugs to get high. His high came from playing basketball.
That’s all Thomas wanted to do was play basketball. It didn’t matter if it was a bright sunny day or if it was snowing, Thomas was always ready to hoop.
“Go anywhere on the West Side and say, ‘Meet me at the court,’ and they’d know what you were talking about,” Thomas once said. “That’s where I really learned to play. There were some basketball players there. I mean, some basketball players. You could always get a game there. Any time of day, any time of night. Me and my brothers used to go over there with snow shovels in the winter so we could play.”
At one point, eight members of one of the worst gangs in the area, the Vice Lords, knocked on the Thomas’ door, trying to recruit the boys in the house. Mary wasn’t having any of this, as she told the gang that the only gang her boys were in was the “Thomas Gang.”
Mary brought a sawed-off shotgun to the door, and the gang promptly left and didn’t bother her again. So, Thomas continued to practice basketball, and his older brother Larry, was intense in drilling the fundamentals in Thomas’ game because he knew his little brother was special on the basketball court.
Now, although his skills were improving, the coaches in the area believed Thomas was too small and skinny to be effective. Eventually, Thomas’ brothers got Gene Pingatore, the head coach of St. Joseph High School, which was three hours away from where he lived, to take a look at young Isiah.
Once Pingatore saw Thomas’ game, he offered him a scholarship, and Thomas was now going to attend St. Joseph High School, an all-white school in the suburbs of Chicago. As you may have already figured out, things weren’t the best, as Thomas had to deal with racism in his new school.
This wasn’t all. The commute just to get to school every day was brutal. Thomas once spoke about this in NBA journalist Jackie Macmullan’s book Basketball: A Love Story.
“My journey to high school in 1979 was about three hours. I would have to take three buses to the end of the line and the train to the end of the line, and then I would have to walk a mile and a half to school. During that walk, your [white] friends would be driving by with their parents, but they wouldn’t stop.
“It’s cold in Chicago, and by the time you got to school, you’d say, ‘Hey man, didn’t you see me? Why didn’t you stop?’ And they’d say, ‘Well, I’m not like that, but my mom and dad are from a different generation.’”
Yes, Thomas’ three-hour commute was brutal, but he made it to achieve his dreams. The next obstacle in Thomas’ way of achieving basketball greatness was his grades.
Still, Thomas wasn’t about to give up. He worked on his grades as he did his basketball skills, and by his junior season, Thomas led St. Joseph to a second-place finish in the state high school championship tournament.
As a senior, Thomas was even better as a player, as nearly 100 colleges tried to recruit him. Thomas’ family wanted him to go somewhere close to their home, and Thomas ultimately decided to attend Indiana University with the famous and temperamental head coach Bobby Knight.
Even before attending Indiana University, Thomas and his family received a letter from the school letting the family know that Coach Knight would hit his players. Thomas didn’t believe this and decided Indiana University was the right school for him.
Knight’s tactics would be brutal at times for Thomas, but he was from the mean streets of Chicago, so he could handle it. One moment of Coach Knight’s toughness was put on display before Thomas even committed to Indiana University.
While Coach Knight was meeting with the family, he almost got into a fight with one of Thomas’ brothers.
(Starts 14:50)
“My brother asked Coach Knight, he said, ‘When Junior’s (Isiah) is down there, if something were to go down with the (Ku Klux) Klan, who’s going to take care of him?’ I thought it was kinda a funny answer, Coach Knight said, ‘Well, if we’re winning, they will.’ So we kinda just laughed it off.
“My brother didn’t think that was funny… and they got into a back and forth. Then my brother said, ‘Hey, we can take this outside.’ Coach Knight stood up, took his jacket off, rolled up his sleeves, and was like, ‘Yeah, we can take this outside.’ Everybody in the house was panicking like, ‘Ah, no, no, no!’” Thomas said. “My mom was looking at him, shaking her head, and I was like, ‘Aw, she like him (Coach Knight).’
“He (Coach Knight) came in, and he said, ‘I’m going to offer your son three things. A, he’s going to graduate from college. B, he’s going to be a gentleman, and C, everything I know about basketball, I’m going to teach him. And that as it.’”
Thomas would graduate from college with a BA in criminal justice. He obtained his degree from Indiana University in 1987, during the offseason of the NBA.
Thomas matured a lot during college and became a gentleman, and he certainly learned a lot about basketball. So much so that in two years playing at Indiana University, Thomas would become the first freshman to be named as part of the Associated Press All-Big Ten team.
As a freshman, Thomas led Indiana to a 21-8 record and a Big Ten Championship. Thomas would lead his school to the Sweet Sixteen, where Indiana would lose 76-69 to Purdue University, despite 30 points from Thomas.
In his sophomore season, Thomas would lead Indiana back to the NCAA tournament, this time leading his school to a national championship. Thomas scored 23 points while adding 5 assists and 4 steals in Indiana’s 63-50 championship win against North Carolina.
Thomas was named the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) of the tournament, and he felt like his game was ready for the NBA. So, after only two years at Indiana University, Thomas declared for the NBA Draft.
Isiah Thomas Enters The NBA And Becomes An All-Star
The Detroit Pistons had the second pick in the 1981 NBA Draft, and with that pick, they selected Isiah Thomas. As a rookie, Thomas saw success immediately.
Thomas averaged 17.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, 7.8 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. These averages were good enough for Thomas to be named to the All-Rookie Team.
Thomas was also selected as an All-Star starter and played well in the All-Star Game, scoring 12 points while adding 4 assists and 3 steals.
By the 1983-84 season, Thomas led the Pistons to a 49-33 record and their first playoff berth, with Thomas on the roster. Thomas averaged 21.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 11.1 assists, and 2.5 steals per game.
Thomas was establishing himself as one of the best point guards in the league at this point, and in his first playoff run, Thomas showed he belonged. Even though the Pistons lost 3-2 in the first round to the New York Knicks, Thomas averaged 21.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 11.0 assists, 2.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game in the series.
Thomas led the Pistons to the playoffs in the next three seasons, and in the 1987 NBA playoffs, Thomas led his Detroit squad to the Eastern Conference Finals in a battle with Larry Bird’s mighty Boston Celtics. This series would go down as one of the best in NBA history and one of the most heartbreaking series for Detroit Pistons fans.
The series was tied at 2-2, and the young Pistons were pushing the aging Celtics to the limit in Game 5. This game was important because if the Pistons won, they’d have a chance to clinch the series at home in the next game. This is not what the Celtics and their fans wanted.
Down the stretch of the game, the score was close. It looked like whichever team had the ball last would have the chance to score and win the game. Then, with 17 seconds remaining, Thomas hit a huge jumper to put the Pistons up by one with a score of 107-106.
The Celtics had the ball, and Bird inbounded the ball and quickly received it back. He quickly drove to the hoop, looking to either get fouled or hit the shot. Instead, Bird had his shot blocked, and the unfortunate thing happened to the Celtics next… one of their players, Jerry Sichting, knocked the ball out of bounds.
The ball was back in the Pistons’ possession with only five seconds remaining and a one-point lead. The game appeared to be theirs, and Thomas was going to have a great chance at upsetting the Celtics and reaching his first NBA Finals.
This, unfortunately, would not happen this season for Thomas and his Pistons. Detroit decided not to call a timeout, and Thomas threw the ball in quickly, trying to have his teammate hold the ball, looking for a foul.
The referee handed Thomas the ball, and he made a quick pass which was famously stolen by Bird, which led to Bird finding Dennis Johnson for a layup with only one second remaining. Detroit had one last chance at the win, now trailing 108-107, but Bill Laimbeer lost the ball out of bounds as time expired.
The Pistons would go on to lose the series in seven games, ending their Cinderella-like run in the postseason that year. Still, things weren’t so bad, as the Pistons were ready to take on a new identity, learn from their mistakes, and push harder for a title. Who was going to lead his charge? No other than Isiah Thomas.
Thomas Becomes A “Bad Boy” And An NBA Champion
For some players, blowing a series against a top team, as Isiah Thomas and his Detroit Pistons did against the Boston Celtics in 1987, could have a team fall apart forever. This would not happen to Thomas and his Pistons.
The Pistons won the central division in the 1987-88 season with a 54-32 record, with Thomas averaging 19.5 points and 8.4 assists per game. In the playoffs, the Pistons met the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals once again, but this time, the outcome would turn out differently.
The Pistons defeated the Celtics 4-2, with Thomas leading the way with averages of 23.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 8.3 assists, and 2.7 steals per game. Thomas and his Pistons would face off in the NBA Finals against Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers.
In his first NBA Finals, Thomas put on a show; this was especially true in Game 6 when Thomas suffered a severe ankle sprain. Thomas was having a great third quarter, scoring 14 points, keeping his Pistons in the game.
Detroit led the series 3-2 and was looking to end the series and win their first championship in franchise history with a Game 6 victory. Then, Thomas suffered an ankle sprain, which looked really bad and left the game.
To the shock of everyone watching, Thomas returned after missing only 35 seconds, and he continued to dominate the Lakers, bad ankle and all. Thomas ended up setting the record for the most points scored in a quarter in the NBA Finals with 25.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzgNoqHib78
Despite the heroics from Thomas, the Pistons lost the game 103-102. Thomas scored 43 points in the game while adding 8 assists and 6 steals, but the series was now tied 3-3.
In Game 7, Thomas’ ankle wouldn’t give him the lift he needed to really attack the Lakers, and he struggled, shooting only 4-12 for 10 points in the game. The Pistons lost the game 108-105 and the series 4-3.
Many fans believed if Thomas didn’t get hurt that, the Pistons would have won the title over the Lakers. Was there some truth to this? We can never know for sure, but the following season, the Pistons made sure to prove that theory right.
After finishing the 1988-89 season with a 63-19 record, the best in the league, Detroit found themselves in a rematch with LA in the Finals. This time around, the Lakers star, Magic Johnson, would be the one coming down with an injury in Game 3 that limited him to five minutes played, and he’d miss the remainder of the series.
Magic’s injury didn’t make a difference. The Pistons were beating up on the Lakers with him on or off the court. Detroit swept LA 4-0 to win their first title in franchise history.
Thomas had a great series, averaging 21.3 points, 7.3 assists, and 1.5 steals. The Finals MVP went to Thomas’ backcourt mate, Joe Dumars, but it didn’t matter. Isiah Thomas was an NBA Champion.
The very next season, the Pistons stormed back into the NBA Finals. This time, the Portland Trail Blazers were waiting. This was an opportunity for Thomas to not only prove their championship last year was no fluke but also that he was the best point guard in the league.
Thomas went to work on the Trail Blazers, having his way with them. The Pistons won the series 4-1, with Thomas earning his first career Finals MVP after averaging 27.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.6 steals per game.
The Pistons may have been two-time NBA champions, but Thomas and his teammates felt like they didn’t get the same type of respect as champions as the Lakers or Celtics teams and players got. There was one main reason for this, and that was because of how they played.
The Pistons earned the nickname “The Bad Boys” because of their physical play. Detroit’s players would literally “beat up” opposing players who attacked the paint, most famously Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan.
It’s been said that the Pistons developed a set of rules for MJ dubbed “The Jordan Rules,” where the Pistons’ goal was to stop Jordan at all costs and not worry about his teammates. This led to a feud between Thomas and Jordan, which would come back to haunt Thomas when the 1992 Team USA basketball team selected NBA players for the first time.
It’s been rumored that Jordan essentially kept Thomas off the Dream Team by stating he wouldn’t play if Thomas was part of the team. This was devastating for Thomas, who missed out on competing for a gold medal back in the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Thomas was on the Team USA roster for the Olympic games, which were held in Moscow, Soviet Union. Team USA ended up boycotting the games over the Soviet-Afghan War, ruining Thomas’ first shot at an Olympic gold medal.
Now, in 1992, Thomas was left off the greatest team ever assembled, and the main reason was because of a “lack of a handshake.” After winning back-to-back titles, the Pistons were swept 4-0 by Jordan’s Bulls in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals.
As Game 4 and the series was winding down, many Piston players, including Thomas, left the game early without shaking hands with Jordan and his teammates. It’s been said that Thomas came up with the idea, and this led to Jordan and Thomas’ relationship becoming even more sour than it already was.
Thomas would play only three more seasons, never returning back to the NBA Finals. On April 19, 1994, Thomas tore his Achilles tendon, forcing him to retire a month after his injury.
Thomas may have retired from playing the game of basketball, but he wouldn’t stay away from the game for long.
Isiah Thomas: Owner, President, And Head Coach
Isiah Thomas was never one to sit around and do nothing. From being a kid learning the game of basketball to hopping into a new career after retiring from playing in the NBA. That’s exactly what Thomas did, only three days after retiring, Thomas became part-owner and executive vice-president of the new franchise, the Toronto Raptors.
Thomas tried to buy a controlling interest in the Raptors, but once he wasn’t able to, and because he had some problems with the majority owner Allan Slaight, Thomas sold his share of the Raptors in 1997. Following his ownership of the Raptors, Thomas started a new career as an analyst with NBC.
Thomas would become the owner of the Continental Basketball Association from 1999 until 2000 when he took on a new job as head coach of the Indiana Pacers. Thomas would coach the Pacers until 2003, leading the Pacers to the playoffs in each of the years he coached.
As he did after his playing career and his ownership with the Raptors, Thomas didn’t want too long to find a new job after losing his head coaching position with the Pacers. On December 22, 2003, Thomas became the President of Basketball Operations of the New York Knicks.
Thomas would serve as President of Basketball Operations of the Knicks until 2008, and he also served as the Knicks’ head coach from 2005 to 2008. This time, Thomas would not lead his team as head coach to the playoffs in his three seasons as head coach.
After Thomas left the Knicks, he became the FIU Panthers men’s basketball team’s head coach in 2009. Once again, Thomas would serve as head coach for three seasons, posting only a 26–65 record, leading to his firing.
Thomas would find work shortly after losing his head coaching job, becoming an analyst with NBA TV and as a contributor on NBA.com. On May 5, 2015, Thomas was hired as the WNBA’s New York Liberty’s Team President.
Thomas would serve as the Liberty’s Team President until 2019, and the team had some success during Thomas’ time, but they never won a WNBA championship. As of now, this would be Thomas’ last tenure as a team president of any team.
To this day, Thomas still works as an analyst with NBA TV, and he’s a regular on NBA on TNT’s Players Only show. On top of basketball ventures, Thomas has other interests in the business.
In 1990, Thomas founded ISIAH International, LLC, an international holding company with a diverse business portfolio. This includes Isiah’s chocolate bars and his biggest asset, being the main importer of Cheurlin Champagne.
Yes, Isiah Thomas has found success in all aspects of his life. From his college basketball career to his NBA playing career and his business career, Thomas is a true legend.
Today, Thomas is often left off the list of the top players of all time. But looking back at his career, you’ll find his name surely deserves to be mentioned.
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