A journeyman vet wants in on this hypothetical reunion.
Brooklyn Nets All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving reportedly wants to be traded before next Thursday’s deadline, and your Los Angeles Lakers, led by Irving’s old Cleveland Cavaliers colleague LeBron James and Anthony Davis, have quickly emerged as one of more feasible destinations for the mercurial star.
Veteran journeyman power forward/center Tristan Thompson, who started for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the era when Kyrie Irving and LeBron James were leading the team to multiple consecutive NBA Finals appearances, has been making the rounds on ESPN all day to discuss the news.
“I mean Max, to be honest, it’s the missing piece,” Thomspon told Kellerman. “This is the piece that gets the Lakers back to the promised land. Rob Pelinka, I know he’s watching this, and I know he’s reading everything — this is the piece they need right here… Lakers Nation, they want to win, so Rob, it’s in your hands, move one of those first round picks, throw in some seconds, but you gotta do whatever it takes at all costs to get this deal done.
“One thing about LeBron, at least speaking for myself, he brought the best out of myself, [Matthew] Dellavedova, [Iman] Shumpert, [ex-Laker] J.R. [Smith], Kyrie, [ex-Laker Timofey] Mozgov — all of us got paid because LeBron put us in position where we can excel. One thing about LeBron, he wants to make things simple and easy for his teammates.”
“I was mad when we broke the team up the first time, so I texted Kyrie, I said, ‘Let’s get the gang back together. Let’s make it happen on the West Coast.'”
Thompson, 31, started the 2021-22 season with the Sacramento Kings, before being included as a throw-in portion of the deal that sent Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers. He played four games with Indiana before agreeing to a buyout. The 6’9″ big man then latched on with the Chicago Bulls, for whom he was terrible. There’s a reason he’s been a free agent throughout the 2022-23 season.