Lakers News: How LA Role Player Is Making Most Of Bittersweet Mother's Day
Los Angeles Lakers reserve center Tristan Thompson's mother, Andrea, passed away at age 55 of a heart attack on January 5th. He recently spoke about his plans for what will be a bittersweet first Mother Day's day without Andrea with Marc J. Spears of Andscape.
On the last day of the 2022-23 regular season, after not playing on a team all season, the 32-year-old vet signed on with old Cleveland Cavaliers comrade LeBron James' Lakers to add some insurance on the bench. Thompson told Spears that he had rejected three 10-day contract offers during the regular season as he continued to grieve his mother's passing. Instead, he worked as a league analyst with ESPN.
The Lakers, incidentally, were Andrea Thompson's favorite basketball team. Now, Los Angeles is just four games away from returning to the NBA Finals, which would be Thompson's fifth appearance at that level, albeit in a much-reduced role from his Cavs prime.
Per Spears, Thompson had been intending to release doves today in tribute to his late mom.
“It is going to be tough, but I always have to be strong for my kids and my family as the leader for them and the backbone that my mom was for our family,” Thompson told Spears. “They said releasing the doves hold a meaning of beauty and freedom, which is who she is. Free from all the pain and heartaches she’s endured and [shining] bright like the beautiful mommy she is.”
“Every day is just a grind," Thompson continued of how he's processing the loss. "Dying at such a young age, you feel like she was taken early. But you know how this world is. There’s so much evil and darkness in the world. She’s in a better place, and I always feel like she’s too good for this world. So that’s how I look at it, as a positive.”
Whenever his playing days come to an end for good, Thompson informed Spears that he hopes to enjoy a long-term crossover broadcasting career, much like former Super Bowl MVP Michael Strahan.
“I was all in. I was in two feet,” Thompson said of his stint with ESPN. “I told them, ‘I want to treat this like I treated basketball in the NBA, come to practice early, watch film.’ Me and [ESPN NBA Today coordinating producer Hilary Guy], we watched film. We’d watch playback."
“So, we’d do a conference call at 8:30, I’d be there. If we’re on air at 12, I was there by 10:30 watching film with Malika [Andrews]. I’d sit down with Malika, and we’d run through the show or with the producers. Anything I do, I want to be great at it. I want to put my two feet in. And I know I’ve heard a lot of former players sometimes don’t come with that approach when it comes to that.”
That said, Thompson isn't quite ready to hang up his sneakers just yet. He noted that, during his various workouts for teams during the season, he felt confident he could still contribute as a role player to a playoff club.
“I never thought about retiring because I know, not taking away from the guys that are on the other teams, but watching the bigs that we have in our league and the guys that are serviceable and playing, I could still play. I know I belong.”
With the Lakers, Thompson hasn't yet cracked the club's playoff rotation. Thompson has appeared sparingly for LA during this postseason run to the Western Conference Finals. Across three games in 7.2 mop-up minutes per contest, he's averaging 2.3 points on 42.9% shooting, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.7 assists a night.
“For me, it’s however I can help this team, whether it’s my voice, coming into practice, helping the young guys learn how to be pros, holding our veterans accountable, [or] just giving whatever I’ve learned throughout the years. However I can help this team get to where they want to get to, that’s my purpose as well.”
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