Tristan Thompson: 'Mario Chalmers, at one point you were probably texting LeBron James to get on a team and get a job'

After hearing Thompson’s comments, Chalmers fired back and explained his stance once again. He argued that he was simply sharing what he has heard from other players and their perspectives. The former NBA guard then proceeded to double down on his point, even using Michael Jordan as a reference. “I’m very grateful for winning a ring, I have no problem with LeBron and I’m speaking from a perspective from people in The Big 3 who played against MJ and from what others have said about LeBron. I don’t see how it’s sucka shit when you’re speaking on somebody’s feeling on someone else’s perspective,” Chalmers told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of Bally Sports. -via Clutch Points / March 25, 2023

“Going more into depth of my statement, you come into a Finals situation are you more fearful to face LeBron James or Michael Jordan? MJ is 6-0 in the Finals and LeBron has four rings. When I say players didn’t fear LeBron, LeBron has been beaten, MJ has not. When LeBron first came to the Heat, people saw him as a villain. But when you line up next to him, you’re actually fearful of him because he’s trying to prove people wrong.” -via Angelo Guinhawa @ Clutch Points / March 25, 2023

“LeBron James was an all-around player. Even though he gave you 40, it wasn’t the same 40,” remarked Arenas. “I’m not afraid of a guy who’s gonna give me 29/9/9, I’m afraid of a man who’s gonna go for 60 if I’m not careful.” -via Sports Illustrated / March 25, 2023

But according to Mario Chalmers, the same cannot be said about LeBron. Chalmers played alongside LeBron in Miami and the two didn’t exactly get along. Here is what Chalmers recently said (via Playmaker): “Nobody fears Bron. Nobody’s like ‘[expletive] I gotta go play against Bron tonight.’ Nobody said that. I don’t know why. Because I seen people be scared when they actually lined up to him but they’re not scared thinking about that matchup, right? You hear anybody from that era talk about going against Jordan, there’s a fear. So when you have people that fear a player, then that’s telling you something different already. Like, Jordan is just that guy.” -via For The Win / March 21, 2023

Jovan Buha: Darvin Ham confirms that Tristan Thompson and Tony Bradley worked out for the Lakers yesterday, but clarified that “nothing is imminent.” He said the Lakers were doing their “due diligence” on evaluating big man options. -via Twitter @jovanbuha / March 21, 2023

Shams Charania: The Los Angeles Lakers are working out free agent centers Tristan Thompson and Tony Bradley this week, sources tell me and @jovanbuha . Thompson, an 11-year NBA veteran, was a key member of the 2016 championship Cavaliers team alongside LeBron James. -via Twitter @ShamsCharania / March 20, 2023

Not long after, Garland was drafted by the Cavs No. 5 overall — the latest foundation piece of Cleveland’s post-LeBron rebuild expected to team with Love in hopes of lifting the franchise back to prominence. When Garland first shared that story with his newest teammate, the two started bursting with laugher — a perfect icebreaker to what became a tight bond. “It was some fun times with him for sure,” Garland told cleveland.com, saying they still laugh about that L.A. run-in. “Kev’s like a big brother to me. There’s always going to be love there. I came in and he was one of my vets. Him, Tristan (Thompson) and Larry (Nance Jr.) really took me in. I was like their little brother. We’ll always have that connection. He’ll always be my vet. When I came in, he looked after me, put his arm around me, showed me the ropes, and I love him for that. That’s always gonna be my guy.” -via Cleveland Plain Dealer / March 8, 2023