Cavs’ Tristan Thompson reportedly passing on 2019 FIBA WC is sound decision

Cleveland Cavaliers big Tristan Thompson reportedly decided to not play in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, which is a sound decision on his part.

The 2018-19 season was a tough one for the Cleveland Cavaliers in general, and injury problems played a significant role in that.

One of the players that didn’t have the year they were hoping for due to injury issues was Cleveland veteran big Tristan Thompson, who only was active in 43 games last season (per Basketball Reference), of which the culprit was a reported left foot problem.

That was unfortunate, because Thompson did play well when he was healthier, and emerged as one of the team’s key leaders, anyhow.

In those 43 games, Thompson put up a respectable 10.9 points, and posted career-highs in rebounds (10.2) and assists (2.0) per game (per NBA.com).

Again, though, the injury issues for Thompson last year held him back, and that was too bad for TT, who only appeared in 53 games in 2017-18, which was previously his career-low in games played (per Basketball Reference).

Given his troubles staying healthy over the last two seasons and with Cleveland having a mostly-new coaching staff in 2019-20, it’s probably a sound move that Thompson will reportedly not be playing for Team Canada in the 2019 FIBA World Cup of Basketball (which will be played later this year in August/September in China), according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

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Thompson was reportedly named to Canada’s 29-man training camp roster, of which Jamal Murray is the biggest name of invitees, according to The Canadian Press’ John Chidley-Hill (and h/t Bleacher Report’s Rob Goldberg), and Thompson seemed to be a good fit on the Canadian squad as a solid veteran that has prior experience playing for their international team in Olympic qualifying in 2016 (per Goldberg).

Previously, Thompson reportedly challenged other quality Canadian players who didn’t do so to compete in international play the next time opportunity called, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (and h/t Goldberg), but again, I’m plenty fine with Thompson not competing in this 2019 FIBA World Cup, considering the injury problems he’s had in the last two seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Additionally, Thompson reportedly had his fair share of personal drama during last season and seemingly needs to focus on getting himself right off the floor, too, as Cavs Nation’s Noam Bernstein noted.

With Thompson on an expiring contract after the 2019-20 season (per Spotrac), it’s unclear as to whether or not he’ll be a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the long term, but could have value as a veteran leader and great screener/rebounder in the coming years for Cleveland head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff/organization.

It seems to be a good possibility that Cleveland does trade Thompson by the 2020 NBA trade deadline, though, because the team needs to allow Larry Nance Jr. and Ante Zizic to further develop in meaningful minutes, and Thompson and/or John Henson (who is also expiring after next year) no longer in the rotation could enable two-way big Dean Wade to find some run as well.

Anyway, while it’d be commendable by Thompson to play for Team Canada in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, which is a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (as the aforementioned Chidley-Hill touched on), it’s probably better that Thompson chose to pass and focus on his health/the Cavaliers.