Tristan Thompson has agreed to a deal with the Boston Celtics, his agent told Yahoo Sports.
Thompson leaves the Cavaliers after an eight-season run with Cleveland, which drafted him fourth overall in 2011. He endured highs and lows with the Cavs, capturing a title with LeBron James & Co. in 2016, only to be part of 38 combined wins with the team in the two years since James left for Los Angeles.
Whether he’d remain in Cleveland became a question when the Cavs acquired fellow big man Andre Drummond at the February trade deadline. The two ended up playing just five games together because of the COVID-19-related shortened season, and while Drummond holds a player option for the coming season, the question was whether the Cavs would want to keep both players.
Thompson has produced for Cleveland, averaging a double-double the past two seasons after never having done so previously in his career. And this past season, he averaged a career-high 12.0 points per game while showing some deep shooting range (9-of-23 from the 3-point line) for the first time in his career.
But he also shot just 51% on 2-pointers, his lowest mark since 2013-14, while his 1.8 turnovers per game were a career high.