Tristan Thompson was on top of the world in 2016 after the Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team in league history to overturn a 1-3 deficit in the NBA Finals, defeating the 73-9 Golden State Warriors team. Right at the beginning of that season, the Canadian had also signed the contract of his life worth 82 million dollars.
As such, he soon began to feel untouchable and decided to use the offseason to reap the fruits of his labor, relentlessly partying and enjoying life. But what he couldn't even guess was that his life would change overnight.
Dating reality star Khloe Kardashian , Thompson was thrust into an intense media spotlight, while he admits his ego at the time made him feel like a celebrity.
"When you date someone that's in the camera and, like, have, people, high profile, right? You have to understand, you're under a magnifying glass," Thompson reflected on the "Club Shay Shay podcast". "And I think, when you're on the best team in the NBA, you're under a microscope. You're under all these sports, right? But now this is more pop culture and global."
"So you gotta really move, a certain way. And obviously, me being 25, being so young, and just winning a championship, you're young and you're naive, and you're just, like, enjoying life. You're like, 'Okay, I'm dating this woman that's very popular, but it's like, shoot, I'm popular. I'm on the best team in the NBA.' So in my head, I'm like, 'Who else you gonna be with? I'm a stud. You see me? I got 16 and 14 in Game 6… It's meant to be,'" he added.
The popularity of the youngest Kardashian sister had skyrocketed during those exact years, largely due to the highly publicized family drama surrounding her marriage to two-time NBA Champion Lamar Odom , who had barely escaped with his life.
During his darkest moments of battling drug addiction, Lamar miraculously survived a single night where he suffered 12 strokes and six heart attacks. Khloe showed immense heart by staying by his side to support his recovery, even though the two were actively in the middle of a bitter divorce sparked by his rampant lifestyle and cheating.
As a result, Khloe was an absolute media magnet. Sparking a brand-new romance with an NBA player who had just secured a ring while averaging a double-double in the Finals, against the team that broke the '90s Chicago Bulls ' regular-season wins record, injected massive "juice" into the pop culture landscape.
But it didn't take long for Khloe to face a familiar nightmare. The world watched in shock as it came to light that her beloved partner had cheated on her with a close family friend and the best friend of her younger half-sister, Jordyn Woods.
Related: Tristan Thompson says Kyrie Irving would be the best player ever if he were 6'5"
Overnight, Thompson felt the crushing dark side of his global popularity and what it truly meant to step out on someone of Kardashian magnitude.
"Someone for sure dimed me, because it was 5 a.m. in the morning when all that stuff happened. Yeah, so it didn't make sense. But, yeah, people talk. A problem for us NBA players: we think when we put a hoodie on, we think we got an invisible cloak. We be forgetting that we still tall," Thompson recalled.
The Canadian big man openly confessed that he was entirely in the wrong, admitting he was completely blind to how his reckless actions would affect those around him. Ultimately, he views the public fallout as a painful but necessary step toward his path to maturity.
In those devastating moments, all the money and accolades in the world meant absolutely nothing. The invisible shield the 6-foot-9 big man thought he wore vanished in an instant, leaving behind a deep family tragedy. Fortunately, the story found a peaceful resolution. Despite their eventual split, the pair have worked through the drama and remain on good terms.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jul 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
