The stunning aspect of the Thomas trade is his contract, which has decreasing salaries. For being fifth in the NBA in scoring at 27.7 points per game, Thomas is earning $6.59 million this season. He will earn $6.26 million in 2017-18.

President of basketball operations Danny Ainge made the trade for Isaiah Thomas after long being enamored with his scoring ability. But never did Ainge envision Thomas developing into an All-Star with the ability to drop 52 points on a team, as he did in Friday’s win over the Heat.

What the Celtics have been searching for since the end of the Big Three era has been star power. Let’s be honest, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were no longer superstars when they were traded to Brooklyn in July 2013, so the Celtics were in search of standouts in their prime.


The incoming collective bargaining agreement allows for the Celtics to sign Thomas to an extension after the second anniversary of his last deal — which has passed — with the first year being 120 percent of the NBA’s average salary, or an estimated $8.4 million.

It may not be in Thomas’s best interest to sign an extension now, but it’s worth it for the Celtics to begin talks, and it would give Thomas the impression that the organization believes in him long term.

Thomas’s future with the Celtics is a fascinating topic because there is belief that he is simply a star stand-in until the club can sign or draft its next franchise player. Because Thomas is 5 feet 9 inches tall, there will always be questions about his ability to lead a franchise or be the best player on an elite team.

He is averaging a career high in points, and since being acquired the Celtics are 81-52 in games in which he has played. And his 52-point performance against Miami catapults him into a different category in the organization’s perception.


When the Celtics signed Al Horford to a maximum deal, it was believed he would be their best player, a cornerstone. And while Horford is a standout and essential to Boston’s success, Thomas remains the team’s most dominant and dependable player.

Case in point was Thursday’s game against the defending champion Cavaliers, in which Thomas scored 31 points on 8-for-13 shooting while hitting all 13 free throws. Horford, meanwhile, had 6 points and a single rebound.

If there was any question about Thomas’s standing on the Celtics’ roster, he answered those with his performance against the Heat. Thomas is grateful to the organization for giving him an opportunity. He was criticized in Sacramento for his score-first mentality, and the Kings weren’t winning and management did not think he was a point guard, so he was freely allowed to sign a four-year deal with the Suns.

Suns general manager Ryan McDonough, a former Celtics executive, wanted to team Thomas with Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe for a three-guard lineup. It was ineffective under coach Jeff Hornacek for a half-season, and Dragic decided he wanted a trade. McDonough also decided to move Thomas for a first-round pick.

So Thomas came to Boston feeling jaded, after essentially being dumped by his previous two teams.

“I couldn’t do this without my teammates, my coach believing in me,” Thomas said after the Miami game. “What I did gives them a lot of credit, too. I couldn’t do it without them. It doesn’t seem real and they wanted me to keep going. That’s the thing about these teammates. They wanted me to get 50. Jae [Crowder] wanted me to get 60. I don’t know how I was going to do that, but it says a lot about those guys.”


Thomas has been a fixture in the community with his charity work, and he has felt welcomed in Boston. But he notices the salaries other standout players are earning in this ballooned salary-cap era, and he will want to be compensated.

But it’s apparent that Thomas is the Celtics’ most prominent and productive player. They might not have expected this to occur but it has, and they need to react accordingly. You don’t let 27.7-point-per-game scorers walk. You don’t consider them disposable, regardless of how talented the next draft may be or the potential to find replacement at point guard.

Only four times has a Celtic averaged at least 27.7 points per game in a season, and three of those times it was Larry Bird. What Thomas is doing is rare in Boston. He has given a franchise in desperate need of a go-to guy exactly that, and it’s important not to be fooled by his stature.

It may not have come with a major free agent signing or a lottery pick, but the Celtics have found their superstar, and now they have to act accordingly and lock Thomas up for the long term.


Gary Washburn can be reached at gwashburn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GwashburnGlobe.