NBA Star Tristan Thompson TURNED DOWN $32B in Bitcoin

I truly believe that there's going to be a point in time where bitcoin will be a million dollars, right? So look at bitcoin. I look at, like, LeBron James, and you look at Ethereum, the Steph Curry, then Solana is the Kevin Durant, right? All those people are important for the business of basketball. Don't start saving when the. When the show's over. You want to save when in the peak of your career where you're making all this big money.

All right, we're back at Bitcoin 2025. I'm here with Tristan Thompson. You guys will know him from the NBA. And you're probably wondering why I'm speaking to someone from the NBA at a bitcoin conference. So let's start with that. Like, how did you get into bitcoin? What do you know about bitcoin? Why bitcoin?

Yeah, no, I got into bitcoin and crypto in general, right. I think it's a whole conglomerate, right? I got in the last two years ago, for me, in the locker room, I'm always a financial literacy guy, right? I'm always the guy that's giving the young guys advice in terms of checks and balances, how to create wealth, passive income, earth, and really just to be able to take your wealth and let it last. Because at the end of the day, Father Time's undefeated. And there's a point in time where you're not going to be playing no more and you're going to have this amount of money and you need it to make it work for you and last. So for me now, you know what really got me into the web3 and Bitcoin is that it's another form of financial freedom, right? I think this is the version of a digital goal. And this is something that has a great Runway where I'm preaching to guys that want to have more diversity in their portfolio that bitcoin is an asset that they should definitely consider and have have in their wallet.

Let's talk about that a little bit more. There's so many professional sportsmen that really struggle to maintain their wealth over. Over time. And I think a lot of them get caught up in the trappings of, of living an expensive lifestyle and spending the money that they have because they're earning so much money. How do you change that perception? Because I think most sportsmen want to live a lavish life, but they don't realize that your money doesn't go that far.

That's another reason why I'm very motivated to get into the space and with bitcoin, but in blockchain and crypto in general, right? I think, unfortunately, especially in basketball, right. Most of us come from underprivileged communities, minority backgrounds, where we don't get that financial literacy, and we're not taught how to manage our money. And I think everything in life except finance, you're in control of. You're in control of. What shirt do you want to wear today? You know, where do you. What car you want to drive? What do you want to eat? Who do you want to marry? You're always in control. But the one area where we give a complete stranger control is finance. Right? And for me, you know, being elder statesman and understanding that, the reason why I love crypto and web 3 and Bitcoin is that you could take back your financial freedom. Crypto, you could take USDC and put it in a safe vault, and instead of making the shitty 4% that the banks, the centralized banks give you, you can put in a save on, get 12%. Right? Those are little avenues and areas that you could create this passive income where when you're done playing, or even when you're currently playing, because what I stress to guys is, don't want to. Don't start saving when the. When the show is over. You want to save when in the peak of your career where you're making all this big money, because guess what? Compound interest, you know, 12% of a million dollars is compared to 12% of $12 million. It's totally different, right? So for me, being a vessel to that and giving that financial literacy education with an area that is new to Americans but definitely far more advanced overseas is crypto and bitcoin.

One of our recent stories that we wrote about you at Cointelegraph was you, you know, missing out on a contract paid in bitcoin. Let's talk about that. I mean, did you fumble the bag? What happened there?

No.

What's the backstory?

Friend of mine, back in 2015, around the same time I signed my deal, he's like, you know What? Just take 10 grand of your money. You're going to spend that at the club anyways or on a vacation. Take that money and why don't you just buy some bitcoin? Just hold on to it, right? Obviously you said no. I said no. It's young. When you're young, you don't understand, and you're like, what is this digital asset? I think that's what happens to a lot of people sometimes when they miss these great investments or great Opportunities that someone gives you the tools. But the messenger might not be the same, right? It might have been different if maybe a Ryan Fang came up to me in 2016 and said, hey, Tristan, let's take 20 grand of your money and then let's buy some bitcoin, right? So it's all a hindsight, but everything comes back around. But I use that story and that situation where I want to help these young guys because I truly believe that there's going to be a point in time where bitcoin will be a million dollars. Right? So the fact that right now it's at today it's 107, might be 109, it's still a good time to get it because the Runway is humongous where it's truly the beginning of the dot com era. That's exactly what this is feel like.

There's quite a few stories coming out now, especially in the US of NFL players or NBA players starting to take some of their earnings in bitcoin. How long do you think it takes until that becomes a lot more of a norm? Especially as people understand that bitcoin is sound money. It's a fantastic store of value. It's a monetary protocol. It's a medium of exchange. It ticks a lot of these boxes. But like you say, in 2016, you didn't know any better. I'll be honest, I didn't know any better in 2016. Do you think it will get to a point where a lot of athletes are like, hey, I want to hold on to some bitcoin? And that would be a reality.

I think with President Trump and his dedication and his. His will to. To create this mass adoption to crypto and bitcoin, I think it's going to open a lot of eyes because I have teammates now that asked me about it. They're asking me like, you know, do I buy bitcoin? Do I buy xrp? Do I buy Solana? And what I always tell people is that when you're first getting into the space, go with the OG The OG is bitcoin. You know that that's the one that when bitcoin rises, everything follows, right? They're. They're the head honcho. So I always preach to guys, you know, get yourself bitcoin, wherever amount you can get, whatever you feel comfortable, get that and hold on to it, right? Because at whatever it is valued now, it's going to be way more down the line. It's like buying Apple stock back in the 90s or buying Amazon back in early 2000s, it's only going to grow and have a Runway. And I, and I honestly do believe that there's going to be a point in time where players are going to be more inclined to want to be paid in bitcoin because they're going to see the growth. And if the teams don't want to do it, I guarantee you when the checks come from the direct deposits, they'll take that money and go onto whatever exchanges and go buy themselves some bitcoin.

I know Scotty Pippen's here at this conference. Do you know him? I mean, he's a big bitcoin advocate now as well. And he, he said some hilarious things about bitcoin over the last year or two. But what do you think about people like him being involved in the industry as well?

I mean, listen, you know, at the end of the day, I always have respect for fellow players that have played in the NBA, right? At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity and it's a brotherhood. Right. You know, Scotty, Scotty's an older man. He's an og. So he might say some off the wall stuff, but, like, that's just unk, I'd say, in America, when, when, when, when the older guy says some off the wall. So you say unk's just being unk. Right. It's like you're at the barbecue when you, when your unk just. Just starts rattling stuff off. But, you know, the fact that he wants to educate himself, and I think he's. It's more so for his kids. You know, his son was actually a teammate of mine with the Lakers, Scotty Jr. So it's good to see, you know, athletes and minorities willing to get into a space of. And a new form of finance to educate themselves. Because at the end of the day, if he can motivate three kids from Chicago to learn more about crypto and bitcoin, then he's done his job. Right? That's what us as athletes, that's what we yearn on, and that's what we pride ourselves, is how we can help our community.

I look at guys like Johnny Football, I'm sure you know, Johnny Manziel. And I mean, like, that's a hard. I don't want to say a heartbreaking story, because I think he's come to terms with how everything ended for him. But you just wonder if people like that had more guidance and more people like you mentoring them at that age when they have that sort of stardom. How many people that have you encountered in your career that have had similar sort of problems and like fallen off the rails. And things might have been different if they'd learned about bitcoin or learned about financial literacy or just learned about the opportunity that they have in front of them and not being like pulled aside by the, you know, the trappings of life and everything.

Everybody wants and wants to be able to. We come from areas that we take care of a lot of people, right? And unfortunately, what take care of a lot of people is a lot of pressure. It's called survivors remorse, right? So it looks crazy if a guy lives a lavish life and his people aren't taken care of, right? So with that being said, you got to do a good job delegating and really holding to yourself strong to kind of budget out who gets what at what amount that they can actually.

Where.

You could sustain a certain lifestyle, but also they could be taken care of, right? Like I'm a big. I take care of my family, so I take care of my brothers. My mom, God rest her soul, I took care of her as well. When I got drafted to the NBA, she retired. I made my mom retire when I was the age of 19 because at the end of the day, I judge a man by how he takes care of his family. Of course you got to have some boundaries and understand you can't do everything for them. But I think for players it's not so much they try to go pro. It sometimes it could be the financial advisor stealing from them. It could be not paying your taxes, it could be child support, it could be gambling problems. There's so many ways where a player can lose a lot of their wealth. So for me it's more. So here's another avenue outside of what your, your mom and pop financial advisor. Because those guys are all old dinosaurs and they only know what they know. They. So they say, here, give me your money, let me put it into Fidelity. Just let it sit there. And you paid him a commission. It's like you, you guys should go do that yourself. So for me it's just like, let me give you another avenue. And for me, I've built a level of respect in the league and a rapport where guys value what I have to say. So that's why I'm a big advocate in terms of educating other athletes, but more so educating our youth. I think that's the most important thing. Right? Let's go find the 17 year old Tristan Thompson and teach him a blockchain before he becomes 24 and signs an 82 million dollar contract, by the time he gets to that age, if he has it, has that understanding, he will go and give, put a million dollars into bitcoin and instead of, you know, the contract being worth 82 million, at least 1,1 million would have probably been $1 billion. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's how I look at this.

Where do you see yourself going in the next five to 10 years in this, in this industry? Have you given much thought to that?

So for me, it's, you know, I view this as part of my post career. I think it's very important for guys like myself to always give back. And I feel like financial literacy is a big thing that I'm a part of. I feel like it's important for our youth, but it's also just important for the mass adoption, right? I think crypto. And like I always say, the cup is 95% full, but to the web two and with the DJ and say the normies, it's only about 3%, right? So there's just, there's about 90 to 95% room to grow, right? And in order for us, everybody wants bitcoin to be a million dollars, right? Let me tell you the secret. That empty cup, you got to start pouring in. Once they pour in, everything rises. You know what I'm saying? So that's an area where I want to help bridge the gap. But the way you bridge the gap is by educating, giving the tools, giving, giving safe, good advice where people feel comfortable. Instead of going to fidelity hr, like going to these institutions, opening a wallet and buying themselves a bitcoin or Ethereum or a solid, whatever you feel comfortable with, that's how you started. Education is what needs to happen. But also that's why it's very important. Like you said, education. But that's why what I preach to people is that yes, bitcoin is amazing. It's the og, but it's a team. These other coins are just as important too. Ethereum's just as important. Salon is important. Xrp, Sweet. Those are all important because in order for the top to reach its max, sometimes you need the bottom to rise. And when the bottom rises and people make money, then they might, they'll rotate, you know, so like everyone's just as important, you know what I'm saying? Like, look at bitcoin. Look at it like LeBron James and you look at Ethereum, Steph Curry, then Solana is the Kevin Durant, right? All those people are important for the business of basketball. So the business of blockchain, everyone still is important.

Lastly, just your thoughts on this conference. I don't know if this is the first bitcoin conference that you've been to. It's a crazy thing.

This is amazing. So I've been to Token. I've been to Token in Singapore. So this is my second conference being to. And you know, like David and his team, you know, I got a chance to talk to David Bailey and he's. The fact that he put this together has been awesome. There's been so many great people, great speakers, and I love the unity, I love the togetherness that our ecosystem is creating, and it's becoming so much more globally. And that's how you know you're on the right path of greatness. And so being able to be here and be a part of it, it's amazing. I highly recommend it to people that are in the space that wonder if they should come or not. It's good just to be around new people and just get to understand what's going on in the space, what people are building, creating, trying to do to help help the ecosystem and not extract.

Yeah, definitely. Tristan, thanks so much for your time. Thank you for talking to us.

We.

I look forward to seeing your evolution in this. In this space and. And hopefully we get to do this again.

Appreciate it, bro. Thank you for having me, brother. Yes, sir. Cheers, everybody.