Isaiah Thomas has never lacked motivation, but by trading him for former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, the Boston Celtics might have piled even more wood onto his ever-burning fire.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, in a podcast breaking down the trade, noted that the trade had to feel like a familiar disrespect to Thomas.

"The one thing you know with Isaiah is he's going to use all of this as fuel," Wojnarowski said. "This is the story of his career, right? 'I have one of the great single seasons in Celtics' guard history anyway, and I still get traded, and they still move me.'"

Wojnarowski added that he got a text from Thomas on Wednesday night, shortly after the deal was finalized.

"I won't quote him," Wojnarowski said, "but he's a pretty motivated guy this morning, last night, today. Certainly with him, you know you get that. There's a hunger to him that allows him to do what he's done at 5-foot-nothing in the NBA."

Thomas has plenty of reason to be upset. The Celtics traded him after a phenomenal season in which he led Boston to the Eastern Conference Finals and proved himself to be a legitimate NBA star. Thomas was a model teammate and member of the organization -- the team's best scorer who also was happy to spend portions of his offseason recruiting free agents to join the team.

If Thomas comes back healthy and even more motivated for the Cavaliers next season, Cleveland will likely be the clear favorites in the Eastern Conference.