6 Times NBA Players Got BETRAYED…

In today's NBA, whenever a star player asks out of an organization, they get blasted. I mean, their jerseys get burned, they get labeled as a quitter, and they'll forever get booed by the team they left. But if it's the other way around, and if it's the organization that quits on the player, then well, as they say, it's only business. And with that being said, let's take a look today at some players who gave it their all to an organization only to get blindsided with betrayal when it was all said and done. During the 2014 NBA season, the Boston Celtics were horrible. They only won 25 games that entire year and missed the playoffs by a mile. To make things worse, the next season didn't start any better. I mean, 52 games into the season and they were 20-32. It looked like they were headed straight to another lottery offseason until they acquired a 5-foot-9 Isaiah Thomas after the 2015 All-Star break. IT was sensational and brought life back into a franchise that lost its heart. I mean, after he donned a Celtics uniform, they went 20-10 to finish off the season, and they actually clinched the 7th seed. In that following season, Isaiah Thomas averaged 22 points a ballgame and became an All-Star for the very first time, making him Anyway, the following season would be the high point of IT's NBA career, where he was named an All-Star yet again by averaging almost 29 points a ballgame, carried his team to the No. 1 seed in the East, and then on top of that, he was selected to the All-NBA 2nd team and came in 5th for MVP voting. IT was clearly the man for the Celtics, and as if his back wasn't hurting enough from carrying the team, the road got even tougher after learning that his sister tragically passed away in a car crash right before the series against the Bulls ended. Instead of being gobbled up by emotion and quitting on his team, IT turned his grief into motivation, because after going to his sister's funeral, he quickly flew back so he could be with his brothers just in time for Game 1 of the semifinals against the Wizards. With his sister in mind, and then in the following game, IT simply carried the franchise as he became unstoppable. In that historic game, IT dropped 53 points, 29 of which came in the 4th to lead the Celtics to Anyway, after single-handedly carrying the Celtics throughout the regular season and the playoffs, IT's wheels eventually fell off in the series against the Cavaliers as he was ruled out with a hip injury. Now, at this point in time, most people, including Isaiah, thought that a 5-year, $200 million contract was heading his way. I mean, he went to an organization that only won 25 games back in 2014, put them on his back, and 3 years later, they were at the top of the conference. But, uh, what did the Celtics reward him with? They traded him, in a package for Kyrie Irving, who is now booed every single time he enters the TD Garden, and as for Isaiah, he, uh, has been bouncing from team to team ever since the trade, and hasn't even earned a fraction of what he could have made if the Celtics gave him that max extension. Sheesh, guys, that was just cold. I mean, that was almost the same situation that Blake Griffin found himself in during his tenure with the Clippers. Coming off as a high-flying rookie in 2009, Blake slowly ascended into one of the building blocks that laid the foundation for Lobb City. He became a consistent All-Star from 2011 to 2015, but despite this, the Clippers also consistently underperformed in the playoffs year after year, only making it as far as the semis within 6 seasons. Eventually, the organization waved the white flag and began the rebuilding process by trading away key pieces, starting with CP3, when they shipped him to Houston. Now, with CP3 out of the picture, it was clear to many that Blake would be the main guy for the Clippers moving forward, and, uh, to make it even more official, they offered him a 5-year contract extension worth $171 million. While Blake thought that he'd be in for the long haul with the Clips, he, um, probably missed a couple details in that contract, because apparently, that deal did not include a no-trade clause in it. And so after 7 months, the Clippers suddenly changed their mind and decided to part ways with Blake, and proceeded to ship him out to Detroit. Now, to Blake's credit, he wasn't bitter nor shocked about the trade, probably because he still got paid, unlike Isaiah Thomas. Anyway guys, on to the next one. James Harden came into the league the same year as Blake, and just like him, the Beard was betrayed by the team who drafted him. Between the 2010-2012 seasons in OKC, James Harden played as backup to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, even though everyone knew he was more than capable of being just a 6th man. The Beard provided an offensive spark and also presented himself as an additional scoring threat when the two other big guns went to take a breather. In fact, he was so good at his role that in 2012, he won the 6th man of the year award by averaging 16.8 points ballgame while shooting almost 40% from 3. Now, after making some noise in the 2012 playoffs when OKC reached the finals, they were looking to run it back again the following season by locking down their core players. First, they signed both KD and Westbrook to lucrative max contracts, which, by all means, was the most logical thing to do. But, um, because of this, they were left with little elbow room to maneuver around financially, and if they wanted to keep both Ibaka and Harden, they would have had to pay a huge luxury tax. Well, after Ibaka agreed to a decent deal, it was then Harden's turn at the negotiation tables. Despite knowing Harden's real worth, OKC low-balled him by only offering him $54 million for four years since they didn't want to pay into the luxury tax. And to make things worse, they gave him just one hour to accept the deal. Otherwise, they told him he'd get traded. Sheesh. Anyways, Harden wanted more time to think about this, and given everything that he's done for the team, he didn't think they would actually go through with trading him. But lo and behold, they did. Harden was devastated, but it was just business. Right? Now, if you feel that OKC did Harden dirty right there by low-balling him and pressuring him into signing, wait until you see what happens to this next guy. Harrison Barnes mid-game is being traded to Sacramento for Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph. See this guy over here? This is Harrison Barnes sitting at the bench with six minutes left to go in a game against the Hornets. And I mean, look at his face. You can clearly see that he had no clue whatsoever as to what the heck just happened. And if you're wondering what happened, uh, this poor guy here just got traded to the Kings mid-game while he was still literally in uniform. Sheesh. Couldn't they have done that either before or maybe after the game? That sure made things awkward. And speaking of awkward moments, how do you think it feels to see your old pals winning the NBA championship just a year after you got traded out? After the Chris Bosch era was over, the Raptors stumbled upon DeMar DeRozan at the 2009 NBA draft. And fast forward years later, his rise to superstardom brought the Raptors back to playoff relevance. I mean, along with Kyle Lowry, DeRozan brought the Raptors into the postseason five times, only to be eliminated by LeBron and the Cavs in three of those. Despite that, however, the Raptors made significant strides and became a legit contender in the East under his watch. They were clearly just one or two pieces away from getting over the hump. But in a sudden turn of events, the Raptors gave up on him and traded DeMar to the Spurs instead in exchange for Kawhi Leonard back in 2018, as if all he did for the North amounted to nothing. In an interview, Debo revealed that he was watching Equalizer 2 when former Raptors GM Masai Ujiri called him, Man, that was just cold. After DeRozan gave his all for the Raptors for so many years, this is how they were going to reward him. Anyways, after the trade, DeRozan and the Spurs got eliminated in the first round, while the Raptors got their first ever championship with Kawhi. In the end, it was definitely a bittersweet moment for Debo as he witnessed his former teammates win a title, but at the same time, it must be disappointing for him since he wasn't the guy who led them to that. Anyway guys, moving on here. If there was ever an unspoken rule in the NBA, then it would be that veteran legends should be off limits when it comes to being traded. But obviously, that isn't the case. I mean, in 2013, the Boston Celtics did the unexpected by trading Paul Pierce away to Brooklyn for a bunch of unproven young players and a couple of draft picks. Five years before this happened, Pierce had won a championship for the Celtics along with KG and Ray Allen, but it seemed none of that mattered to Boston. Now, despite the old legs of Pierce being 38 at the time of the trade, he was still pretty valuable, and even if he wasn't as impactful as before, I'm sure he could have helped Boston by mentoring the young players and establishing a winning culture in the locker room. I mean, after winning the chip in 2010, and despite the struggling seasons after that, the Lakers didn't throw Kobe under a bus. In fact, they paid him handsomely and rode him till his last playing days back in 2016. Sheesh, guys. My bad. I can't believe I just sort of, uh, compared Paul Pierce to Kobe Bryant.