Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson’s former teammate, has addressed how his entire team “really felt” for Khloe Kardashian amid the news of Thompson’s first cheating scandal breaking.
During his basketball career, Shumpert played on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2015 to 2018 alongside Thompson. The pair even won an NBA championship together in 2016 -- two years before the basketball star had cheated on his then-partner Kardashian while she was pregnant with their now four-year old daughter, True.
The 31-year-old athlete discussed Thompson and Kardashian’s relationship history during a recent episode on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.
When asked if Thompson’s cheating scandal was “a big disruption” for the team, Shumpert said that it wasn’t as they were all focused on their games and not headlines.
“Honestly, when the outside world and stuff bubbles up, the best thing for us is that we’ve got games so we can focus on that,” he explained. “We get tunnel vision.”
However, he still went on to acknowledge that his teammates still “felt for” the reality star at the time and how “sad” he felt.
“We just all felt for Khloe,” the former Brooklyn Nets player added. “And I don’t know what they got going on…I’m sure they speak, they’re grown. But man, it was sad. I remember feeling like that.”
Kardashian has been very open about Thompson cheating on, both in 2018 and more recently in 2022. His first cheating scandal was one of her main storylines on her family’s former reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
The former couple has had an on-and-off again relationship over the years since then, but called it quits this past January when Thompson confirmed that he had fathered a child with fitness instructor Maralee Nichols. The revelation came on the heels of Nichols filing a paternity lawsuit against him in December 2021.
According to court documents, Thompson revealed that he had sex with Nichols in March 2021 which was while he was still dating Kardashian.
During the recent season finale of her newest show, The Kardashians on Hulu, the reality star discussed her ex-boyfriend’s paternity scandal and how “embarrassed” she was to find out about it through the tabloids.
“I find out what Tristan is doing with the rest of the world,” she said. “A courtesy would be not doing it, but, fine. If you do it, you’re not even going to give me a f**king heads up before the rest of the world? It’s just an additional slap in my face. It’s humiliating. I’m embarrassed.”
Regarding her relationship status now, Kardashian recently wrote a comment on Instagram and said that she wasn’t dating anyone.
“Thank you for the nice wishes but I am not seeing a soul,” she commented on a fan account’s post. “I am happy focusing on my daughter and myself for a while.”
