NOVEMBER 30: Thompson’s deal with the Celtics is now official, the team announced today in a press release.
NOVEMBER 21: Free agent center Tristan Thompson will sign with the Celtics, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The deal was confirmed by Thompson’s agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports. The contract will be worth $19MM over two years. (Twitter link).
Thompson will receive Boston’s full mid-level exception, which was more than the Cavaliers were willing to offer, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavs were optimistic this morning about their chances of keeping Thompson, but when Paul Millsap chose Denver over Boston, the Celtics were motivated to get a deal done.
“Going from being a fan to an opponent and then a teammate, Tristan has always been one of the good guys,” Larry Nance Jr. said. “His jersey deserves to hang in the rafters.”
Boston’s willingness to give the full MLE to Thompson indicates that the team probably plans to avoid the tax this season, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter link). The Celtics still have their $3.6MM bi-annual exception available as well as trade exceptions from deals involving Enes Kanter and Vincent Poirier.
Thompson, 29, spent the first nine years of his NBA career with the Cavaliers, playing in four NBA Finals and winning a championship in 2016. He averaged a career-best 12.0 points per game last season to go with 10.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
He still with a cardashian?
If you are with one of them once, you will probably have a bumpy reminder for the rest of your life.
Rich paul: tristan wants atleast 12-15 a year
Every gm: you know lebron is 36 right….
Yuck
Me: I hope Tristan finds a good team that fits him well, he deserves it.
Also me: Not the Celtics!!
Oh well. He’ll fit in well.
good addition foe C’s.
he is pretty decent center with mid level.
Wow That was a weird deal
Ainge over-played his hand demanding Turner + Warren/Oladipo for Hayward.
Ainge now has to settle for Tristan Thompson & all the Kardashian drama he brings with him.
Pretty sure the Pacers didn’t feel comfortable paying 30 mil and a year for Hayward .
Indiana was offering 4 years at 100M. Charlotte came in at 4 years at 130M. Hayward took the cash Nothing to do with Indy or a sign and trade.. It’s not hard to figure out, but a lot of people are having a hard time figuring it out.
Thank you. So tired of all this Ainge blew it BS .
Well you could still Danny blow it because if he would have excepted the trade right away the offer from the Hornets never would of been made
You don’t know how long the Hornets offer was out there.
He literally ditched his preferred destination for 5 mil a year . Pretty sure Danny can only control who he asks for not how much money the Pacers were willing to offer him
sorry…120M
Thompson and Teague and Turner and McDermott is a wash.
Oh please, overplayed his hand, let’s get a grip..
Suddenly I no longer feel bad about Philly signing Howard.
Theis and Thompson are a nice combo. They still need scoring off the bench.
Ask and you shall receive. Hello Jeff Teague
I love the signing considering what other folks went for.
So instead of Turner and McDerrmott it’s Teague and Thompson. Could have been much worse
Yeah, a lot of people would trade Hayward for Thompson and Teague. I would have rather had Thompson and Teague in the playoffs, that is for sure.
Ultimately they’re in the same position. They need more growth from the Jays. I don’t know how I feel about it all. I feel like they’ll be stuck in 3-5 seed purgatory. My optimistic side says Kemba will be healthy the Jays take another leap the rookies and 2nd years guys contribute and they just go off
Agreed, they are a 55 win team IMO. But, they have a punchers chance at winning it all.
Now here’s to hoping they work out a sign and trade with Charlotte. Apparently they’re discussing it. That would open up a huge trade exception
I would rather have Turner and McBuckets, but Thompson and Teague are pretty good additions for the Celtics.
Thompson is a 4. A small ball center. It’s a solid choice. Rebounds and plays D. Got him at a good price too. Better fit than Hayward. At least he can guard Bam
Thompson and Teague are not bad signings. Teague is a solid veteran presence with gas still in the tank. He’ll more than compensate for the loss of Wanamaker. Thompson just has to remember he’s in Boston and not Hollywood, and the rest of the Celtics have to avoid the distractions Thompson could possibly bring with him. Thompson should help the Celtics more than Turner and Millsap would have, but the Celtics still need to keep the door open for Andre Drummond. If they get the financial exception they could from Hayward going to Charlotte, Ainge could probably figure out how to crunch the numbers, even if it means trading someone to make up the extra dough. Drummond, Tatum, Brown and Smart are the combination for a championship.
Whiteside, Tatum, Brown, and Smart would be another combination for a championship. By signing Thompson and Teague, however, the Celtics will now have to resort to trades to bring someone like Drummond on board since they’ve priced themselves out of signing Whiteside.
No thanks on Whiteside.
I wonder how this effect R. Williams I hope he’s still going to be a useful player for this team or will they just give up on him and let him ride the pine till his contract is up
I hear you, he has a lot of potential.
Williams has always had a lot of raw potential. As he continues to develop, he will probably become more consistent and dependable, and be able to help the Celtics more. Going forward, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Celtics using a bigger lineup more frequently – something like Thompson, Theis, Tatum, Brown, and Walker (or Smart). Williams could conceivably fill in for Thompson or Theis in such a lineup. I still wonder what the Celtics plans are for Tacko.
Williams could also become a valuable trade chip in a trade for someone like Drummond.
To me, Tackos ceiling is an end of the bench guy who lasts in the league a few years. He can come in to challenge inbounds plays, and can protect the rim, but he can’t switch and he is a liability on Offense
Tacko is their freak show they keep because fans like him and brings in fans for the Red Claws that’s it
I wish they would give him a real shot but they won’t he’s here for ticket sales and community appearances
I didn’t know TTs game was still relevant enough to get 10m
I didn’t know being 2nd in offensive rebounding last year isn’t relevant
Oh your point was the 10m a year, nvrmnd i get it. Well least they are the wizards signing robin lopez almost the same deal
The main reason his O-rebounding was high was because Cleveland has a lot of bad shooters.
Wow finally!!! boston makes a move..good signing…Go after Ibaka even if u need to overpay him
Kemba/Teague
Smart/Langford
Brown
Tatum/Ibaka
Thompson/Theis
They have no cap room for him or anything else they are done with free agency only thing left would be a trade if needed
Yup. Hopefully with a 30 million dollar TPE . Fingers crossed
strong fit for the Celtics, although I feel like Robert Williams is on the verge, Grant Williams could be very effective in certain smaller lineups, and Theis is solid. Thought drafting a young big that could maybe stretch the floor would be a possibility, but just a veteran depth piece would make some sense…but outside of Ibaka, he was one of the stronger fits for them.
Hopefully he will work hard. Ibaka took the same from the Clippers but that is where he wanted to go. Thompson game here for money just like Hayward did for Charolte.