Celtics' Thomas: Next team to pay me 'better bring out the Brinks truck'

Thanks to the once-in-a-blue-moon (or once-in-a-massive-new-TV-deal) spike in the NBA's salary cap, this offseason has created a significant divide across the league; between players who signed new contracts this summer, and those still playing on deals signed under the old cap.

In other words, the causal relationship between what players are capable of and what they earn has never been hazier.

Isaiah Thomas is a good case in point. The Boston Celtics point guard just made his first All-Star team, and helped lead the Celtics to their best record in four years with averages of 22.2 points and 6.2 assists per game. He'll make less than $13 million combined for the next two seasons. Meanwhile, forward Solomon Hill (to use but one example) signed a four-year deal this offseason that will pay him $13 million annually. Hill averaged 4.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per game last season.

Thomas is trying not to let the disparity bother him, but he's also looking ahead to his own free agency in 2018. He says whichever team signs him that summer won't be getting him cheap.

"They better bring out the Brinks truck," Thomas told CSN's A. Sherrod Blakely over the weekend. "They're paying everybody else. I gotta get something."

In the meantime, Thomas will have to play with the knowledge that he's significantly underpaid relative to the current NBA market. But the 5-foot-9 waterbug has established himself as one of the league's premier point guards, despite being significantly undersized. He's well versed in the art of playing with a chip on one's shoulder.

"I'm trying not to worry about it," Thomas said. "It's out there. I'm just being myself and play and hopefully that takes care of everything else."