The Cleveland Cavaliers made small moves to bolster a contending team this summer. In the process, they smartly said goodbye to a longtime member of the franchise who was long past washed up. Tristan Thompson is not coming back to the team.
It was a story built on nostalgia and good vibes when the Cavaliers brought Tristan Thompson out of retirement to claim their backup center role. Once the No. 4 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Thompson played nine seasons with Cleveland to start his career and played a key role on four-straight NBA Finals teams.
Thompson proved himself as a versatile big who could execute a more aggressive defensive scheme alongside LeBron James and earned progressively more playing time on those contenders. He started all 21 games in the 2016 postseason that ended with a trophy. Generally speaking, everyone in the organization and fans outside of it loved Tristan Thompson.
The clock on undersized bigs often runs out quickly, and as he bounced around the league in the 2021-22 season it looked like Thompson's had hit '0'. He joined ESPN as a studio analyst and looked to be moving on.
Yet then Thompson was back in 2023, signing with the Cavaliers and looking like someone who could legitimately hold down the backup center position. Then the league found out how that mini miracle occurred, and he was suspended for PED use. When Thompson returned he was a shell of his former self, and he contributed very little down the stretch.
Did Cleveland upgrade on Thompson before last season? They did not, valuing his veteran leadership and keeping him on the roster. Neither did they find another option at backup center, however, and so Thompson was pressed into service in a number of games when Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen were unavailable. He was objectively awful, now unable to finish in addition to being a stick in the mud defensively.
The Cavaliers finally moved on from Thompson
Finally, the Cavaliers made the move to replace Thompson's role -- both as a backup center and as a proven veteran voice. In the early days of free agency, they agreed to a deal with another former Cavaliers big man, Larry Nance Jr.
Nance is light years better as a player than Thompson, and more importantly, he offers versatility in role. If the Cavs need someone to play the 4 offensively next to Evan Mobley, Nance's shooting ability makes him a perfect fit. If they want to go 5-out and put Nance at center in a switching scheme, he is ready to step in. He is a good defender and great offensive player who will play 12-15 impactful minutes each game for Cleveland this season.
The signing of Nance signaled the end of Thompson's time on the team. The organization didn't come out and announce that they were not bringing TT back, but the writing is on the wall. With Nance on board the need for Thompson in any capacity is gone, and the goodwill of bringing back a former player who shares a name with a franchise legend covers up any disappointment at not bringing back Thompson.
This is probably the end of his NBA career, and Cavaliers fans will likely always look back on Thompson and his career fondly. And they don't need to fear his limitations in the present.