Tristan Thompson, who was oddly a full-time Boston Celtics starter for the 2020-21 season, looks like he’s on his way out of the league. Despite ending last year with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team he spent most of his career with, Thompson has yet to be picked up in free agency this summer.
At 34 years old, Thompson may be at the end of his long career. The Cavs even signed a new big man this summer, adding Larry Nance Jr. in free agency, potentially signaling that they won’t be bringing Thompson back on board. Add in the fact that Thompson hasn’t played regular minutes in almost five years, and they all point in one direction: Potential retirement.
The former Celtic may not have much time left in the NBA.
What did Tristan Thompson look like on the Celtics?
Needless to say, the Thompson era in Boston didn’t look pretty. The Celtics were fresh off a run to the NBA Finals in The Bubble, but Kemba Walker dealt with injuries throughout the year, and Jaylen Brown missed the postseason.
The Celtics were in a relative state of disarray, getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs for the first (and to this day, still the only) time of Brown or Jayson Tatum’s career.
During his time in Boston, Thompson started in 43 of the 54 games he appeared in, and many of the games featured double-big lineups with him and Daniel Theis in the Celtics’ frontcourt.
That year was the last time Thompson played at least 20 minutes per contest, and since then, he hasn’t been a starter. Up to that point in his career, he has gotten a fair number of starts in most years he was healthy, but since then, he’s been mostly a bench player.
In the 2020-21 season, Thompson played 23.8 minutes per contest. He averaged 7.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists while shooting 51.8% from the floor.
That season was perhaps the most disappointing in recent memory for the Celtics. It was an awkward in-between year at the tail end of Brad Stevens’ time as head coach, as Danny Ainge retired and Stevens moved to the front office at the conclusion of the season.
Joining Boston marked Thompson’s first time leaving the Cavs, but the Celtics ended up trading him to the Sacramento Kings that summer. He was then included in the famous Tyrese Haliburton-Domantas Sabonis swap, joining the Indiana Pacers.
And since then, he’s bounced around from the Chicago Bulls to the Los Angeles Lakers (but only for the playoffs) and back to the Cavaliers.
But now, it might be the end of the line for Thompson.