Tristan Thompson returned from his bout with COVID-19 Wednesday.
After the Celtics' 101-99 win over the Knicks, Thompson used the majority of his nine-minute postgame press conference to recount his path back to the lineup along with how he felt in scoring seven points and grabbing eight rebounds in 22 minutes.
Then came the final question and answer.
Thompson was asked about a report from Kevin O'Connor's podcast on The Ringer in which it was surfaced that Thompson's teammates "was not loved" in the Celtics' locker room due to potentially breaking COVID protocols. (The narrative was actually surfaced by O'Connor's co-host Chris Vernon, according to Boston.com. To listen to the entire podcast, click here.)
It was news that was quickly met by social reaction from some of Thompson's teammates.
Thompson would go on to talk for the final minute or so of his postgame presser to address the subject.
"I laughed because I think in my 10 years of playing basketball I don’t think there is one teammate that doesn’t like me in the locker room, so I knew that was full of shit," Thompson said. "That guy Kevin O’Connor, I know I mentioned his name enough. He doesn’t deserve my two cents. But I remember every name because I’m like an elephant. So for him saying I’m not liked in the locker room that was funny because that’s not the case. It’s never been the case. Yeah, so that was him just trying to get some click baits with my name. I’m used to it. Why not mention my name? Especially with our team going through an up and down season like everybody is trying to say. It makes sense to point out one of the veteran guys. But JB and Kemba came in and had their tweets. Kemba doesn’t ever tweet and he tweeted that. And JB came in and did the same thing.
"That guy just wanted click baits. You’re welcome Kevin O’Connor for using my name to get more hits and retweets. But that was a joke. You can ask any of my teammates from 2011 I played in the NBA until now, I don’t think there is one teammate who said they don’t like me. Or even a trainer, an equipment guy, a ball boy. I have a pretty good rapport in this league so I’m not going to let some guy with Twitter fingers try and bring down what I’ve built. Good attempt, Mr. O’Connor. But I’m teflon. You can’t bring me down like that. I’m too blessed and I’m too covered to be put down by your negativity or your reach."