It’s fair to wonder if the Boston Celtics would have won the 2018 NBA Finals had they never traded Isaiah Thomas. After all, what prevented the Celtics from defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in that year’s Eastern Conference Finals series was not having a player that they could rely on in the clutch in Game 7.

Thomas, though having had tough games against the Cavs in his playoff series’ against them (he never shot above 33.3 percent from the field in either series he played against Cleveland) was one of the most electrifying clutch scorers in the league prior to 2018. Per NBA Advanced Stats, Thomas was second in the league with 5.1 points per game scored in the “clutch” in 2016-17.

That said, following the Boston Celtics 114-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Nuggets point guard Isaiah Thomas was asked how he believes the team would have fared — or simply what would have transpired — had he never been traded in 2017 for All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. Thomas, true to his character, was bold and confident in his response, saying “[the Celtics] would have won a championship already.”

IT asked if he thinks about what could have happened if he was never traded: “Yeah, we would have won a championship already.” — Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) March 19, 2019

It’s truly hard to say that Boston would have won a championship had they never made the trade, as part of the reason that the Celtics were so successful in the postseason was the accelerated growth of their young pieces.

Perhaps Terry Rozier, a quality playmaker and defender, doesn’t blossom if he’s playing in the backup role behind Thomas. Would Jayson Tatum, who would become the team’s first option on offense in the absence of Irving, be as aggressive scoring the ball with Thomas on the court?

If Thomas struggled against the Cavs again, would they be able to take Cleveland to seven games or make it to the Finals? Then, in the Finals, facing the Golden State Warriors would have been a different beast entirely, with an experienced group of All-Stars facing a team full of rising stars. Further, as Thomas only shot 34.4 percent against the Warriors in the two games Boston played against them in 2016-17, it’s even more unlikely that the Celtics would have managed to defeat Golden State in a Finals series.

Ultimately, the Boston may have very well upset both the Cavs and the Warriors. However, it seems unlikely.

Nonetheless, as previously mentioned, it’s fair to wonder. Especially about a Finals scenario in which Thomas, one of the Celtics’ most beloved players, led Boston to a championship.

*Unless otherwise referenced, stats gathered from Basketball Reference