After missing several weeks of action due to a calf injury, Cleveland Cavaliers big man Tristan Thompson is expected to suit up for Tuesday night’s home game against the Atlanta Hawks inside Quicken Loans Arena. His teammate, LeBron James, says he’s happy to have the former Texas Longhorns stand-out back in the fold.
Though James is happy to have his teammate back in the lineup, he also mentioned that Thompson will need to be re-acclimated to actual game speed.
“Well first of all, we’ve got to get him acclimated to what we’ve been doing,” LeBron James told Joe Vardon of cleveland.com after Tuesday morning’s shootaround. “He hasn’t played since Nov. 1. … He has to get his wind back, he has to get his rhythm back. I don’t think it’s gonna be like, right now, boom.
“But we’re happy to have him back for sure. He’s a big piece of our team. He’s going to be a big piece of our team long term.”
Thompson, now 26 years of age, has been out of Cleveland’s lineup since November 1 due to his injury. In his absence, the Cavs have managed to win 14 of their last 15 games, including a 13-game winning streak. Exactly what sort of role he will play remains to be seen. However, after Monday’s practice, head coach Tyronn Lue hinted that the 6-10 rebounding machine will come off the bench.
In his eight games played for the Cavs this season, Thompson has turned in averages of 4.4 points on 57.7 percent shooting from the field and 6.4 rebounds.
Tuesday night’s game between the Cavs and Hawks is scheduled to tip at 7:00 p.m. EST with Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Southeast having live broadcast coverage.