New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady texted Isaiah Thomas shortly after the All-Star guard was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Thomas reveals in an essay for The Players Tribune.

Brady initiated the conversation with Thomas by texting "What’s up, IT, I heard about the news. You good?"

To which, Thomas responded: "I’m alright. I mean, it’s crazy. It’s a cold game."

Brady replied with, "Yes it is. Best of luck. You’re gonna do great. Keep in touch."

Thomas was surprised that one of New England's biggest sports stars would reach out to him after such a short time in Boston.

"At first, honestly, it stung a little," Thomas wrote in his essay. "I look at a career like Tom’s with the Patriots — and that’s exactly the kind of career that I had hoped to be building here with the Celtics: Being this low draft pick … coming in without acclaim … and then — through hard work, and determination, and some talent that maybe people had overlooked — just starting to win, and win, and win. And then establishing a legacy of winning. And then staying in Boston, winning titles and competing like hell, for the rest of my career — until I was considered one of the all-time Boston greats. That’s the career that I had started to map out for myself. In my mind, I wanted to be the Celtics version of Brady and Ortiz. I wanted this next era of Celtics basketball to go down in history — and I wanted to go down in Boston sports history with it. So when I got that text from Tom, you know, there was part of me that felt a little down."

• The Kyrie Trade Was the Only Move Left for the Celtics

"But then I thought about the text some more … and I think I changed my perspective a little," he added. "I think I realized that, like, Yo — that’s Tom Fucking Brady. And I was only here for two and a half years. Tom Brady isn’t sending a text like that to guys who played in Boston for only two and a half years — unless they did something very special. So maybe, I don’t know … maybe that’s something to be proud of. And maybe, my time here … even if, in the end, I guess it wasn’t quite what I’d dreamed it would be — maybe it still meant something to some people."

The Cavaliers and Celtics trade was finalized last week with Thomas going to Cleveland with Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, Bostons 2020 second-round draft pick via Miami and Brooklyn's 2018 first-round draft pick. Kyrie Irving is headed to Boston.