- How likely is surgery?
- It's not the No. 1 option right now,
but it could be once the swelling goes down.
Maybe they wanna let it die down a little bit,
and then take another MRI
once everything's down and looks back to normal.
And we go from there.
I mean, hopefully I don't have to have surgery.
But, I mean, I know that is an option.
- There's a lot of free agents.
- Otherwise,
how are you approaching the summer?
Are you even thinking about that?
- Nah, that time will come.
I mean whatever happens, happens.
I've proved myself.
So, I mean, the world knows what I bring to the table.
And I can't do anything to control anything else, so....
My actual meeting with the Celtics
was ... I mean, it wasn't a lot.
It was like, "We can't really tell you too much more."
Like, "You've given us everything.
You've had one of the best seasons in NBA history.
Not just Celtics history, but NBA history.
Now let's get this hip better."
- What did the doctor say? Anything?
- Yeah. I'm fine. No surgeries, so we'll see.
We're still playing the waiting game, though....
for this ... for the right news.
We came to a conclusion of: Surgery is not the best option -
the rest is the best option.
And let's let the inflammation get out of the hip
before we move forward.
I was about to say, within like the next three days
are we gonna be able to get like a real plan in place
until September first of what I can and cannot do?
- We're gonna let you shoot all you want.
But just now, O.K., with the elliptical.
You can do the bike, you can do the elliptical,
and you can do wind sprints on the elliptical
to get your heart rate up - burst it up.
Seeing for this time where the hip
is going in the right direction,
this is humongous today.
This is the biggest appointment of your life, seriously.
And so I don't wanna tell you to like start cutting corners,
just because we got good news.
You see what I'm saying?
It really is all about that.
I can say it in so many different ways.
But that's what it's all about, I.T.
And today was huge, and so....
- Who's your favorite player in the NBA?
- Daddy.
- Who's your second-favorite player?
- LeBron James.
- Third-favorite player?
- Michael Jordan.
- Fourth-favorite player?
- Kobe.
- Fifth-favorite player?
- Kyrie.
- Sixth-favorite player?
- I'm done.
- You know a lot of players.
- Yeah.
The Glove.
- The Glove, yeah.
- Four.
Five.
- Six.
Seven.
Eight.
- What I had to do throughout the summer
was basically rest,
letting the inflammation get out of that hip joint.
And it was a long, slow process.
I was on this slow grind,
gradually getting better.
- This is not working out, this is rehab.
- Rehab.
- Rehab is not working out,
so you listen to this man right here.
- Oh, for sure.
- O.K.?
- Longevity. Remember, longevity.
- Gotta wait till I'm ready.
- Exactly, exactly. Longevity, have to be looking....
- All those people who've been injured like....
You have even more respect for those guys,
'cause you know that process of getting
back to where you were is so tough.
- Come on! Forty-one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine! Fifty, one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine! That's it! Woo-hoo!
That's it, that's it, that's it.
- Just get it to the house.
- Man, you gotta put this one away till we....
- Ah, nah, nah, nah! She just got done too. I'm like,
Damn, I can't even ... I'm keeping down this summer.
It was tough going from sitting for three months,
to trying to get that range of motion back -
was one of the hardest things that I've ever been through.
There was still inflammation in my hip,
so there was that pain.
At that point in time, like, you think about,
"Man, am I ever gonna be the same again?
Am I ever gonna be able to be who I am?"
- Reach ... yes! There!
And now you've got everything, right?
- Yeah.
- Good.
Last set, just ... so go ... go get it. 'Kay?
- Art, my strength coach for the Boston Celtics,
he just got hired.
- Good.
- But the trainers, you gotta get familiar
and comfortable with them.
Like having Art come out to Seattle,
and seeing what he wants to do with my hip,
and the things that he likes and doesn't like to do, and-
- More on that side,
and now pull it down.
So then this is gonna be one of your foundational things.
- O.K.
It was definitely difficult to change trainers.
Like Ed was great.
Built a great relationship with him,
throughout being on the Boston Celtics.
I mean, Ed was there for ... I think
this past season was his 30th year.
Then they had let him go for whatever reason.
- In July, the team parted ways
with both their head trainer,
and their strength and conditioning coach,
staffers who had been with that team for decades.
- Celtics let go of the training staff.
It was a weird situation.
Nobody knew why it happened.
I mean, yeah, nobody knew why it happened.
It just makes you think
that you have a lot of questions
that one day will be answered,
and the real truth will come out.
And I'm not gonna say it, though.
- The Celtics won't comment
on whether they feel their medical staff correctly,
or mishandled, Thomas's hip.
We're used to guys playing hurt, right?
Especially in the postseason.
But the line is supposed to be
when playing hurt will cause further,
maybe even irreparable, damage.
That's when it is the job of the team doctors
and training staff
to say, "Nope, you are done."
- I think it was a mistake probably for the trainers,
and himself, you know. I think they're both to blame.
- You've got nothing now.
- Yeah man, yeah.
If I could do it over again,
I probably wouldn't have played,
just because like ... I made my injury that much worse.
But at the same time, it's like in that moment,
there was no other option.
I was gonna play to the end,
and I literally did that.
It's like all that breakin'....
- So you actually have a lot more motion
than I thought you were gonna have.
I thought you'd be at like....
- That's what Brian Dumner said, too.
- I thought you'd be at zero, or negative.
Like you actually are not bad.
- I know it's healing,
'cause I definitely feel better.
I just ... there's no timetable,
so I don't know what to think. That's the only thing.
- So my thing is, we'll gauge kinda the pain....
But like ... we made changes in motion in your hip today
like ... one session.
Like I feel actually really pretty good.
You're actually better than I thought you were gonna be.
- Yeah.
Like the trainers say, and like they say, it's a marathon.
Like, We're not gonna be able to score 30 points tomorrow.
Like but we will again.
- Here we go. All right so....
so you're actually a pretty big dude,
so we're gonna give you a full-size skateboard today.
- Are you gonna listen?
- Well, if you're not listening it's O.K.,
you'll just fall more.
Get your knee pads on, dude.
Here we go.
O.K., and when you fall....
remember when you do, fall on your knees.
- I go back and tell my wife and my kids
like, "Man, Daddy's gonna play again,"
and, "Daddy's gonna be who I am."
And that's the best feeling ever.
- Bend, bend, bend, bend, bend. Yeah!
Alright.
- Bend, bend, bend, bend.
- Stay on. Stay on, stay on, stay on, stay on.
- Like being able to see progress....
And that's the dope part about it.
Like it's a process. And at the end of the day,
like I always say,
I'm gonna get the last laugh,
I'mma be able to be who I am,
and I'mma be better than I ever was.
- When you go back,
I want you to go back and make a statement.
You know what I mean?
Like a statement about....
... everybody. For you, for you.
- This is the longest I've ever been
without playing in a game.
Getting up and down the court, competing....
I can't wait.
That's gonna be the day.
And it's coming soon.