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.