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Tristan Thompson drew so much vitriol at a recent game that Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena had the look of a Khloé Kardashian fan club meeting instead of an NBA court.
Thompson, 33, caused a scuffle after emphatically dunking the basketball with four seconds left as his Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 131-108 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, February 12.
After the final buzzer sounded, Raptors players Scottie Barnes and Jamal Shead got in Thompson’s face, unhappy with the NBA veteran needlessly slamming the ball home with two hands.
During his postgame press conference, Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković defended his players’ actions and doubled down on criticizing Thompson.
“I think what Tristan did there was no class and disrespectful,” Rajakovic, 45, said. “I’m not going to stand for that, for sure. I love when my team stands up for themselves. That was no class.”
Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said he also struggled to understand what Thompson was doing.
“I’m not sure what he was thinking,” Atkinson admitted to reporters. “Sometimes, though, you’re playing the game, and you just have a reaction. I know with Tristan, there’s no bad intention there. I think just sometimes you’re playing, and the goal of the game is to score. Unfortunate.”
Shead, 22, also called Thompson “disrespectful” after the game and provided some insight into what was said during the on-court kerfuffle.
“We had a couple of choice words,” Shead said. “We’re adults, we’ll move on from it.”
When asked about the incident postgame, Raptors star RJ Barrett defended his teammate for confronting Thompson.
“It’s kind of an unwritten rule to not do that at the end,” Barrett, 24, said. “Jamal did what he’s supposed to.”
Thompson responded to all of the criticism — specifically that of Raptors coach Rajaković — via social media on Thursday, February 13.
“You wanna full court press with under a minute left in the game when you get cracked by 30 this will happen to you,” Thompson wrote via X. “Lose for draft lottery and be happy buddy boy.”
Thompson — who shares daughter True, 6, and son Tatum, 2, with ex Kardashian, 40, in addition to sons Prince, 8, and Theo, 3, with exes Jordan Craig and Maralee Nichols, respectively — is currently in the second year of his second stint with the Cavaliers.
The 13-year NBA veteran has also completed short tenures with the Boston Celtics, Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers.
Wednesday night’s win over the Raptors improved Cleveland’s record to 44-10, half a game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for best in the league.
