The NBA celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the league this season, culminating in a spectacular event at All-Star Weekend in Cleveland that saw them honor the Top 75 players that have ever played in the league. Legends of the game like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, were all present on a star-studded night as generations of greats mingled with one another.
Still, for every amazing player that made the journey to Cleveland to be a part of the historic celebration, others missed the festivities for a myriad of reasons. Bill Russell chose to stay away from the event due to reasons related to the Covid-19 pandemic, and he wasn’t the only great missing, with Larry Bird, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan and Karl Malone also among the absentees.
Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas was very much present for the event though, and he had a message for his peers and elders that didn’t end up making it for a night of this magnitude. Isiah spoke straight from the heart, stressing the magnitude of the moment and what it signified for the league.
Isiah Thomas had a message to every Top 75 player who didn’t attend All Star Weekend 💫 https://t.co/kNv04nySPd
— PiñataFarms: Meme Maker (@pinatafarms) February 21, 2022
“For those who chose not to come and for those who missed it, what you chose to missed and chose not to be a part of is one of the most special nights in the history of our game. For the people that were here, you know, God bless ’em.”
This isn’t exactly an exaggeration from Thomas as an event like this is unlikely to occur again till the 100th anniversary of the league in 25 years, by which point, a lot of greats from that era might not be around to be able to make the journey. While it would have been great to have every member of the Top 75 that still around makes it to the event though, just seeing the legends that turned up mingle with one another was a rare and spectacular sight for NBA fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9dc0m_IKA
