Tristan Thompson Says Collin Sexton and Darius Garland Are Different: ‘They’re Not Douchebags’

The relationship between Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters during their Cleveland Cavaliers days was contentious, and Tristan Thompson was right in the middle of it.

The two ball-dominant guards simply couldn’t co-exist on the court, but Thompson believes the on-court issues between Collin Sexton and Darius Garland are different.

“They were two alpha males both wanting to be the man,” Thompson explained. “It was hard for them to figure it out, especially at such a young age. But also we didn’t have veterans to kind of help them through that process where they could understand how to make it work.”

In essence, Irving and Waiters had huge egos which kept them from having any kind of chemistry.

“Those guys’ personalities were definitely stronger in terms of alpha males,” Thompson added. “I think Collin and DG, they’re more like the new-age millennials. They just absorb everything. They don’t backtalk. It’s not like they’re dickheads or douchebags, they’re good guys. I enjoy being around them.”

Sexton embraced Garland from the get-go and thought that they could be the new version of the Portland Trail Blazers’ own undersized backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. But the Cavs’ tandem hasn’t found much success yet this early in the 2019-20 regular season, and it’s clear that something has to change.

More than likely, one of them has to take on a bench role, and that player is probably going to be Sexton since Garland is the better distributor with the more mature floor game. Sexton, meanwhile, is the more aggressive scorer.

Defensively, when the two of them are on the floor together, their lack of height (both are 6-foot-1) presents a problem for coach John Beilein that hasn’t been solved just yet.

But if there is one thing that the Cavs can be grateful for, it’s the fact that Sexton and Garland have no issues playing with one another, unlike the time when Irving and Waiters were considered the team’s backcourt of the future.