LeBron James Says Tristan Thompson Should Be ‘Cavalier For His Whole Career’

USA Today

The Cleveland Cavaliers are one win away from reaching the NBA Finals. LeBron James and company have made easy work of the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Part of these dominating performances can be credited to forward Tristan Thompson’s impressive play.

Thompson has picked up the slack ever since Kevin Love went down with the season-ending shoulder injury in the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Boston Celtics. Thompson has played so well that he’s won over LeBron and his teammates.

Recently, LeBron said the following about Thompson giving nothing but praise for the 24-year-old, via SI.com:

“Tristan should probably be a Cavalier for his whole career,” James said. “This guy is 24 years old, he’s played in 340-plus straight games, and he’s gotten better every single season. It’s almost like ‘What more can you ask out of a guy?'”

With LeBron clearly an avid supporter of Thompson, it’ll be interesting to see what will happen with Love this summer. Both Thompson and Love will become unrestricted free agents this summer leaving the team in an interesting situation. Love never seemed to fit in with the Cavaliers while Thompson has done the complete opposite and as a result the team has played better without the three-time All-Star.

All indications seem to point to Love leaving the Cavaliers in free agency. Cleveland may now not mind Love heading elsewhere as they may have a better and younger option in Thompson that doesn’t mind playing the role he has.

Although anything can happen between now and when free agency opens on July 1, Love and Cavaliers appear to be moving further and further apart with LeBron seemingly endorsing Thompson over Love moving forward.