Tristan Thompson, the man in the middle for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has taken offense to insinuations that he had help in earning contract. In 2015, the Toronto native signed a contract that made headlines, earning himself a five-year, $82M deal.
He’s an important piece of the Cavaliers roster, and he certainly knows that.
“I earned my money,” Thompson told ESPN. “LeBron‘s not my agent. I earned my money doing what I do; you can ask anyone around the league. I opened doors for other guys. It’s a business, and you get paid what the market value is for you. I got my money and opened up doors for other guys that play hard and do the little things.”
Thompson is certainly right, he earned his money crashing the glass for his Cavaliers when they were one of the worst in the league, and continued to do so as a part of a championship caliber team.
‘Double T’ usually lets his game do the talking, but he made sure he got his point across.
“LeBron is the leader on the team,” Thompson said. “He’s going to make his comments. At the end of the day, we all got to play better from the top to bottom. Players got to play better, we got to prepare. Everyone. Everyone that’s part of this journey — coaches — we all got to be better. Everyone has got to take a step forward and just be 1 percent better. So, LeBron’s comments is what it is. I really don’t give a f—. I just got to keep playing better. We got to keep playing harder. And he’s right, we got to all play better. It’s simple. You see the horses— out there that we’re doing.”
Cleveland still find themselves in a bind. But finishing with a less than desirable 7-9 record for the month of January, they still top the Eastern Conference standings with a 2.5 game difference.
For the Cavs to emerge from their losing form, Thompson will be a crucial piece. If a starting role in a championship team wasn’t enough proof to the NBA world, helping his Cavaliers get back to their 2016 form would be an excellent way.