Ben Simmons, Marcus Morris Mock Tristan Thompson For Saying Cavaliers Are Favorites

LeBron James may have left the Cleveland Cavaliers but Tristan Thompson believes the four-time consecutive Eastern Conference champions are the team to beat yet again this season. Under the leadership of James, the Cavaliers made the NBA Finals for four straight years between 2015 and 2018. They won the title in 2016 but came up short on three other occasions against the Golden State Warriors, the three-time champions during the same period.

James declined his player option with the Cavaliers this summer to become an unrestricted free agent and then went on to sign a $154 million four-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. And with his departure came the expectation that the Cleveland franchise will struggle in the Eastern Conference in the upcoming campaign.

Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors are being touted as the teams to beat in the East this upcoming season. Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward missed the Celtics’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season due to injury, while the Raptors have added two-time NBA defensive player of the year Kawhi Leonard to their roster for the upcoming season.

Thompson, however, is of the opinion that the Cavaliers are still the team to beat as they overcame the Raptors and the Celtics in last season’s playoffs. The 2018 NBA finalists made light work of the East’s top seeds, the Raptors, in the second round of the playoffs and then beat the Celtics in the conference finals in seven games.

“We're still four-time Eastern Conference champions, so until you take us down from that, teams ain't got much to say. Boston, Philly, they ain't got much to say," Thompson told ESPN on Thursday. "Boston had homecourt Game 7 and lost. Philly, you guys almost got swept. Toronto -- we already know that story. So until someone takes us down, there's not much they can really say."

It was no secret that James played a huge role in helping the Cavaliers make the finals in the last four years – especially in the 2017-18 season when he almost singlehandedly got them though the playoffs and into the NBA Finals. The Warriors were too good a team for one person to handle and hence the 4-0 rout in the summit clash.

Thompson’s comments about the Cavaliers being the favorites did not go unheard as Celtics’ Marcus Morris and Philadelphia 76ers’ Ben Simmons hit back – almost mocking the Cavaliers star for suggesting they were still the team to beat in the East.

“Cut it out. Get that vacation ready early this year fam! Ain't s--- going through the Cavs this year! #facts," Morris wrote on his personal Twitter account.

2018 Rookie of the Year, Simmons, also commented via his official Instagram account with a mock agreement with regards to Thompson’s comments.

"@realtristan13 hah yeh ok buddy see you soon," the 76ers point guard wrote.