Knicks Lose Another Center Option to Rival

The New York Knicks are watching another free agent center leave the market.

According to ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cleveland Cavaliers are signing Tristan Thompson to a one-year deal, keeping him with the franchise that chose him No. 4 overall in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Thompson, 33, averaged 3.3 points per game in 49 appearances for the Cavaliers last season, his first year back with Cleveland since the 2019-20 campaign. He would have played more, but he was handed a 25-game suspension back in January after testing positive for some performance-enhancing drugs.

Thompson spent his first nine years in Cleveland before bouncing around the league with the Boston Celtics in 2020-21 and playing with the Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls in 2021-22. He went unsigned for most of the 2022-23 campaign before joining LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers for the playoffs, where the team went all the way to the Western Conference Finals.

That led to a return to Cleveland, where he was with the Cavs throughout the entire season.

The Knicks could have looked at Thompson as a potential option for their center woes. The Knicks have been seeking an answer at the center spot since Isaiah Hartenstein left in free agency on a three-year, $87 million deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The team is settling with the in-house options of Mitchell Robinson, Jericho Sims and Precious Achiuwa, but looking for another option has always been in the cards for the Knicks.

While Thompson would have been a potential piece to the puzzle for the Knicks, the team has to go back to the drawing board and look at other replacements.

Thompson and the Cavs are set to meet on the second week of the regular season on Oct. 28 at Madison Square Garden.

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