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Tyronn Lue: “Moving over six inches on the bench—that’s what people don’t understand. It’s tough. Especially when it happens midway through the season. We had just gone to the Finals. Lost Game 6 without Kevin Love and Kyrie. And now I’m being asked to replace Coach Blatt, who had done a hell of a job. If we didn’t make it back to the Finals—or at least to Game 7—I was going to be viewed as a failure. And that pressure? Man, it was real.” “I didn’t even know if I could do it. You’re taking over halfway through the year—no training camp, no time to implement your own system. You’ve got to stick to what’s already there. And on top of that, you’re coaching the best player in the world. That adds another level of pressure. It was tough.” “But I’ve got to give credit to K-Love, Kyrie, Bron, JR, Tristan—those guys told me: ‘We got your back 100%. Whatever you want to do, let’s do it.’ I told them, ‘I’m going to make some mistakes, but if we stick together, we’ll be fine.’ And they really had my back. All the way.”
Tristan Thompson protects the net on the basketball court, but his new side hustle is all about delivering it to unconnected people worldwide! TMZ Sports has learned 34-year-old Thompson secured the C-suite gig with telecommunications company World Mobile ... where the NBA champ will serve as Chief Digital Equity Officer. The NBA champ isn't cashing a check to serve as a spokesperson. We're told Tristan believes in WM's mission -- connecting people across the globe, many in underserved communities -- with an internet connection.
Tristan Thompson: Cleveland is an unbelievable sports town, with great people, great restaurants, and its great for outdoor/nature activities . Still surprises me to see people say stuff like this
But by the time 2022 came, when then-general manager Monte McNair and assistant general manager Wes Wilcox were looking for ways to turn their middling team into a playoff contender, Fox’s market value had plummeted to the point where Haliburton became the focal point of their rebuilding efforts. League sources say the Kings explored trades involving Fox, who had recently signed a five-year, $160 million deal, but simply didn’t find a suitable return. The discussions with the Pacers, league sources say, were two-pronged but quickly turned from Fox to Haliburton when it was clear that was the only real avenue to a deal. In turn, with first-year Indiana coach Rick Carlisle on the lookout for a point guard who could push the pace and help them return to contention, the Pacers sent All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday and a 2027 second-round pick to the Kings in exchange for Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson.
The discussions with the Pacers, league sources say, were two-pronged but quickly turned from Fox to Haliburton when it was clear that was the only real avenue to a deal. In turn, with first-year Indiana coach Rick Carlisle on the lookout for a point guard who could push the pace and help them return to contention, the Pacers sent All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday and a 2027 second-round pick to the Kings in exchange for Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson. Yet while that deal looked like a win-win for both sides when the Kings were enjoying their “Beam Team” run two years ago, it has since become one-sided in the kind of way that reflects incredibly well on the quality of the Pacers program
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Oblivious to everything — the hoopla of a series closeout, a 16,000-seat arena with fans starting to fill the red and orange seats, balls bouncing and launching around them, camera lights glowing, a pregame clock winding down with Game 4 on the horizon — Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love squeezed each other tight as the tears trickled down and time stood still.
“At the end of the day, that’s my brother forever. So, (expletive) basketball, (expletive) the game. It’s bigger than all of that. It always will be,” Thompson told cleveland.com following the Cavs’ record-setting 138-83 win over Miami. “K-Love is family. I know what it’s like losing a parent and it’s definitely tough.”
“I told him, ‘You just gained a guardian angel to watch over you and your beautiful family,’” Thompson relayed to cleveland.com. “I told him I’m here for him — whatever he needs. If he wants to vent, scream, cry together, I’m here. I’m here any time, any place. I told him that his dad is proud of him. He is watching over him each and every day. He’s done so many things to help his family change everyone’s life for generations to come.”
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Kenny Atkinson on ejection against Indiana: I don't regret that one
Kenny Atkinson picked up two straight technical fouls and got ejected in Game No. 79 for arguing with the three-man officiating crew — Curtis Blair, Gediminas Petraitis and Matt Myers — over a non-call against veteran Tristan Thompson. Atkinson had a message to send. “I don’t regret that one. I had to have Tristan’s back on that blatant foul against him that led to my ejection,” Atkinson said to cleveland.com after the 114-112 loss. “Fourteen years in the league. An NBA champion. He deserves more respect than that. I couldn’t let that one go. No way.”
“I appreciate it,” Thompson said. “I was like, K.A. you really got my back, you really (expletive) with me. That’s dope. I would run through a brick wall for him too. He knows when we get into the playoffs I will chew out ... I’m not going to say the name of the ref because I don’t want to get fined ... so that he can stay in the game. This is a basketball guy who gets it. I’m going to rock out with him. He’s one of us.”
Tristan Thompson: So I think the toughest thing for us as NBA players is the travel. I think people don’t understand the fact that we could play a game at 7 p.m. By time we’re done, shower, get on the bus, get on the plane, land in the next city. It’s probably 2:30 in the morning, right? And imagine it’s a back-to-back. You play the next day at 7 p.m. Like, yeah, it’s easy playing basketball, but it’s not easy playing basketball when you have all the other variables.
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