Once LeBron James retires from the league, the Cleveland Cavaliers will not hesitate to retire his jersey. In fact, they might even do that the year immediately following his retirement. So that’s a for sure thing that will no doubt happen. But what about another key member of that 2016 championship Cavs squad? I’m not talking about Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love; instead, I’m talking about Tristan Thompson.
This is a very interesting question and it feels like a topic where a compelling argument could be made either way. Thompson was drafted a few picks after Kyrie in the 2011 draft and so the two of them had to endure multiple losing seasons until LeBron James came back in 2015 and took the team to the Finals four straight seasons.
The Cavs should have gone 2-2 in that time, but the injury gods had other ideas. Back in 2015, the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors met in the first of four consecutive Finals. Unfortunately for the Cavs, they lost Kevin Love in their first-round series and then they lost Kyrie Irving in Game 1 of the Finals at Oracle Arena. LeBron James was magnificent but the team ultimately fell in six games.
Looking at Thompson’s impact, from his rookie year through the Finals run to the post-LeBron era, we see a player who meant a lot to the Cavs.
In the 2011-2012 season, Thompson averaged 8.2 points and 6.5 rebounds, but from 2012-2014 he averaged 11.7 points per game and 9.5 rebounds. Now, his stats went down a little bit once LeBron came back, but that makes sense because LeBron likes to have the ball in his hands and you also had Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving who needed their touches.
As a result, Thompson needed to find other ways to have an impact on the court for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He definitely did that as I bestowed the nickname of the “Energizer Bunny” upon him. Why? Well if you watched him during the 2016 NBA Finals, you saw how he was running up and down the court trying to make as many plays as he could. For example, there was a play in Game 6 where LeBron had a fast break and Thompson came running up the court and James delivered a beautiful pass which resulted in a dunk as “Double-T” slammed it down.
Thompson was also willing to switch out onto the elite Golden State guards, Klay Thomspon and Steph Curry (who shouldn’t have won unanimous MVP in 2016). When Thompson would switch out onto Curry or Thompson, he was stepping in to take the offensive foul, putting his body on the line to help the team win. In a pivotal Game 6, Thompson put up a double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds.
It might feel like the centerpiece of the argument is for his performance during the 2016 playoff run and the NBA Finals. For the most part, that is correct; however, in order for someone to have their jersey retired, there has to be more than just one playoff run.
So what else is there that merits Double T getting his jersey retired? Tristan is third in Cavaliers history in the total rebounds category with 5,393. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is second with 5,904, and to the shock of absolutely no one, LeBron James tops the list at 6,190. Big Z already has his jersey hanging in the rafters of Rocket Mortgage Field House and LeBron James will almost certainly get his jersey retired.
Sure, LeBron has done way more than just rebound, such as leading a team back from a 3-1 deficit. For Big Z his career was mostly as a rebounding big rather than a scoring big. The case for Thompson’s jersey being retired is based on the precedent of Ilgauskas getting up there. Thompson also came in 11th on our site’s rankings of the greatest players in Cavaliers history.
After LeBron left for the second time to join the Los Angeles Lakers, Tristan was one of the few remaining veterans on the team. This meant he was forced into taking on a bigger leadership role since the rest of the roster was (and still is) very young. The Cavaliers didn’t really go anywhere during this time (and unfortunately it feels like they still aren’t) but Tristan did show a fair amount of leadership.
To recap, Thompson sacrificed touches and his body to help this team win. He was an important part of the only title in Cleveland Cavaliers history, and an important veteran leader when the stars left town. His rebounding totals are third in franchise history. If you add all of the pieces together, you could make a compelling argument for Double T to get his jersey retired.