Isaiah Thomas (b. 1961)
Filed under the name Isaiah · June 12, 2026
Isaiah Thomas ran the point for the "Bad Boys" Pistons teams of the late '80s, back-to-back champions, and even the photos from that era have this specific visual texture to them — the short shorts, the grainy broadcast color, a whole aesthetic that's become almost a design reference point on its own now, ironically or not. He was undersized for the position by the standards of the time and became one of the best to ever play it anyway, which is the kind of story that sounds like a cliché until you actually watch the footage and see how much of it was pure will layered over real skill. My husband teaches middle school and coaches basically nothing officially, but he'll talk your ear off about players like Isaiah Thomas who made a whole era of a sport look different just by refusing to fit the mold everyone assumed the position required. It's nice, watching someone get genuinely excited about a small guy who changed a big game.