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The Boston Celtics' season has been quite the roller-coaster ride. The team has been a massive disappointing, but they still sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 26-26 record. They're in the mix for a playoff spot and the last thing this team needs is outside noise, but that is always hard to avoid.
Recently, The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor and Chris Vernon of The Mismatch podcast caused a bit of a stir by claiming Thompson isn't liked in the locker room in Boston. While the original report came from Vernon, per Tom Westerholm of Boston.com, it was O'Connor who drew the ire of Thompson on Wednesday night for his involvement:
“That guy, Kevin O'Connor — I don't know if I should mention his name or not, because he doesn't deserve my two cents, but I remember every name because I am like an elephant,” Thompson said. “So, with him saying I'm not liked in the locker room, that was funny, because that's not the case.”
Thompson continued his rant with more shots at O'Connor:
“I’m used to it,” Thompson said. “Why not mention my name? Especially with our team going through and up-and-down season like everyone is trying to say. So it makes sense to point out one of the better guys. But [Jaylen Brown] and Kemba [Walker] came in and had their tweet. Kemba doesn’t ever tweet and he tweeted that, and JB came and did the same thing. That guy just wanted clickbaits. You’re welcome, Kevin O’Connor, for using my name. Got you some more hits and some retweets.”
Thompson, who's averaging 7.9 points and 8.4 rebounds on the season, is a vital player on the roster. His rebounding provides them some consistency down low. With prominent scorers on the Celtics in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, it's hard to imagine the team not getting along with Thompson.
According to the Celtics center, he's well-liked across the league:
“I’ve got a pretty good rapport in this league,” Thompson said. “So I’m not going to let some guy with Twitter fingers try to bring down what I’ve built. Good attempt, Mr. O’Connor. But I’m Teflon steel. You can’t bring me down like that. I’m too blessed.”
Part of the original report slandering Thompson involved COVID-19 and claimed he was breaking protocols but not testing positive and just not wanting to play, but apparently he did actually test positive and dealt with a nasty bout of the virus.
Hopefully, this is something Thompson can put behind him so he can focus on helping the Celtics make a playoff push. Catch their next game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
