The Toronto Raptors appear to set something off in one of their hometown opponents.
On Wednesday night, Cleveland Cavaliers forward and Toronto native Tristan Thompson brought the ire of the Toronto bench in the closing stages of an eventual 131-108 victory for his team.
With the game already well out of reach for Toronto, Thompson opted for a dunk in the game’s final seconds, which led to a yelling match with a number of Raptors players, including rookie Jamal Shead.
Given that Toronto wasn’t playing much defence on the play and Thompson could’ve dribbled out the shot clock, boos started raining down on Scotiabank Arena.
“I think what Tristan did there was no class and disrespectful… I love when my team stands up for themselves,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said.
Raptors veteran forward RJ Barrett — a fellow Toronto native and a longtime teammate of Thompson’s at various stops on the Canadian national team — also offered up his thoughts on the play.
“I don’t really know what happened too much, but it’s an unwritten rule that you’re not supposed to do that,” Barrett said. “That’s what Jamal is supposed to do.”
While tempers often flare in the NBA, it seemed like the kind of thing that could blow over by the morning.
But the man who started it all had other plans, seemingly blaming Rajakovic’s hard defence in a blowout game as the reason for his dunk.
Thompson replied to Rajakovic on X on Thursday morning, also sharing his thoughts on the Raptors’ front office of President Masai Ujiri and General Manager Bobby Webster.
“You wanna full court press with under a minute left in the game when you get cracked by 30, this will happen to you,” Thompson wrote on X. “Lose for draft lottery and be happy buddy boy. Hopefully, you and most of your guys see the light at the end of Bobby and [Masai’s] long-term plan. Bless up stay warm in MY CITY.”
You wanna full court press with under a minute left in the game when you get cracked by 30 this will happen to you. Lose for draft lottery and be happy buddy boy. Hopefully you and most of your guys see the light at the end of Bobby and Masai long term plan. Bless up stay warm in… https://t.co/9bsEnB9geb
— Tristan Thompson (@RealTristan13) February 13, 2025
With no guarantees that Rajakovic and Thompson will ever face off again in their NBA careers, perhaps this is just a two-day beef and nothing more, especially as both teams head into the annual All-Star break.
Given that Toronto has already played Cleveland three times this season, there won’t be another chance on the schedule for the two teams to renew their rivalry over the remainder of this campaign.
But in any case, we’ll keep our ears open to see if there’s any further response on either side.
John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
