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Despite the Oklahoma City Thunder trading Isaiah Joe this summer to the Detroit Pistons in a move that netted the Thunder second round picks, a freed up roster spot and a lower tax bill, Joe will forever be a Thunder franchise icon as part of the team's first ever title squad.
From near by Ft.
Smith, Arkansas, Joe has also been heavily invested in the community.
This week, he held a golf tournament that benefitted Oklahoma and Arkansas Children's Hospital.
During this event, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault went up on stage to discuss Joe and his impact.
The Oklahoma City Thunder acquired Joe from the Philadelphia 76ers off waivers in October of 2022.
The relationship between Daigneault and Joe got off to an...interesting start as the bench boss would recall.
"[Joe] comes in.
He's there for a couple of practices.
There's a G League scrimmage coming up on Sunday.
This is like Thursday or Friday.
I call Sam [Presti] and I'm like, 'Hey, I'm going to have him play in the G League scrimmage.
I want to just see him play.' [Presti's] like, 'Yeah.
That's cool,'" Daigneault remembered.
"I pull Isaiah [Joe] over.
It's my first interaction with him.
I'm like, 'Isaiah, the G League team has a scrimmage on Sunday.
I want you to play in the scrimmage.
I just want to get a look at you and then you'll come back to the team the next day.' Then he said, 'Coach, respectfully, I'm not a G League player.
I can help this team.'" Daigneault got a chuckle out of that being their first exchange, a player not wanting to go down to the G League and scrimmage after missing all of training camp and the preseason.
Joe was never assigned to the G League team to scrimmage and Daigneault thought to himself, either the sharpshooter is crazy or he is absolutely right.
Everyone in Oklahoma City remembers the first moments for Joe on the hardwood for the Thunder.
An early season game in Dallas where the sharpshooter gets put in with four minutes left of a game where Oklahoma City is down 16 points.
Daigneault turns to his assistant coaches and they agreed to pull the starters.
The Thunder then elected to give Joe his first chance in Dallas down 16.
Joe then ignites a comeback fueled by his 15 points in nine mights to get Oklahoma City an improbable early season win.
"It turns out that maybe he might be a little bit crazy, but he was also right and hes been right ever since.
And he helped bring a championship to Oklahoma City," Daigneault detailed.
"He was a huge part of the teams rise and a huge part of the teams success.
But the thing I always talk about with our team is not what we do, but how we do it.
And what he does is he is a first-class professional, one of the best shooters in basketball." Daigneault then gave credit to Joe as a person and his family to express how much the team will miss him.
"We are going to sorely miss the Joe family and Isaiah," Daigneault said.
"Were glad that youre doing this and leaving a legacy in Oklahoma City.
Thank you for everything." Joe will forever be immortalized in Oklahoma City as part of the city's first ever major professional sports championship.
His shooting helped powered the OKC Thunder to the 2025 NBA Championship.
Now, Joe will be a valuable contributor for the Detroit Pistons, who have championship aspirations of their own in the Eastern Conference.
Rylan Stiles is a credentialed media member covering the Oklahoma City Thunder.
He hosts the Locked On Thunder Podcast, and is Lead Beat Writer for Inside the Thunder.
Rylan is also an award-winning play-by-play broadcaster for the Oklahoma Sports Network.
Follow Rylan_Stiles.