Isaiah Thomas believes he made his hip injury worse by attempting to play through it.

“No doubt about it, I should have sat out the playoffs,” he says. “No way around it, I made it worse.”

Thomas braced for surgery after he was shut down by the Boston Celtics during the Eastern Conference Finals.

“I thought I’d get it done in a couple days and start rehab,” said Thomas.

Thomas was seen by Dr. Bryan Kelly and was prescribed rest rather than surgery and to return for an MRI.

Thomas wasn’t recovering as quickly as he’d hoped, but he left New York encouraged. “It was a good appointment,” he recalls. “Dr. Kelly told me I should continue to rest it.”

Thomas jeopardized his health and earning potential by playing hurt for the Celtics only to be traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving.

While Thomas was bitter about his exits from the Kings and Suns, he has a different sentiment towards Boston except for Danny Ainge.

“Boston is going to be all love,” he vows, with one exception. “I might not ever talk to Danny again. That might not happen. I’ll talk to everybody else. But what he did, knowing everything I went through, you don’t do that, bro. That’s not right. I’m not saying eff you. But every team in this situation comes out a year or two later and says, ‘We made a mistake.’ That’s what they’ll say, too.”