ABC Disney Bosses Caved to Kris Jenner’s Pressure, Granting Tristan Thompson Coveted Position at ESPN

Before signing with the Los Angeles Lakers in April, Tristan Thompson landed a gig as a basketball analyst on ESPN… with this week’s episode of The Kardashians revealing Kris Jenner played a big role in that hiring. 

Thompson, 32, was hired by ESPN in January, with a May profile on Thompson in Andscape revealing he was hired to provide commentary on LeBron James, who was nearing the all-time NBA scoring record at the time.

Thompson was drafted 4th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning an NBA title when LeBron James returned to his hometown, in 2016, but he wasn’t playing in the league when ESPN hired him in January… before he ultimately signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in April.

The new episode of The Kardashians – entitled A Step in the Right Direction – revealed that Kris Jenner was able to persuade ABC/Disney bosses to hire him.  

Towards the start of the episode, Kris Jenner welcomes Tristan Thompson – who was recently accused of being an absentee father, as Kris says she was cleaning up, ‘after a little project we were working on.’

Tristan takes the cloth from her and insists he’ll clean for her, stating, ‘I don’t wanna get your beautiful two-piece dirty. I got this with the long arms and the reach.’

Kris raves, ‘What don’t you do? My mind is going, what else do we need, what else do we need,’ when she thinks of something.

She points to the cupboards above her fridge, asking him to open that, adding, ‘This is perfect.’

Kris adds in confession, ‘Khloe and Tristan definitely have worked out this rhythm,’ as Tristan keeps searching the tall cupboards for whatever Kris needs.

‘Wherever he’s needed, he’s running the kids around, doing the errands, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s really tall,’ Kris insists.

Tristan puts the items away in the cupboards as Kris says, ‘You sure do come in handy,’ before asking him to catch her up.

‘Everything’s been great. You know, ESPN, obviously, I appreciate you, helping make this all happen,’ Tristan says.

‘It’s a dream. I mean, the fact that we could have that call on Friday, and they say, ‘Can you start Monday?’ That never happens to anyone,’ Kris insists.

‘Yeah, I’m excited, but you made a couple of calls, ding ding ding, you made it happen. You’re like, ‘My boy wants to do ESPN, let’s make it happen, all right,’ Tristan said.

Kris added in confession, ‘I was able to reach out to ABC/Disney and really express how talented I thought Tristan was, and they would really benefit from him being a part of the ESPN team, for example.’

They show a shot of Tristan on the set discussing the NBA with Richard Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins and Malika Andrews on the ESPN program NBA Today.

Jefferson asks Tristan how many years he played before he missed a game, and he said he played for five years straight, in a discussion about NBA stars taking games off.

Back at Kris’ house, Tristan says he thinks Kris has, ‘mastered’ the ‘art of negotiation,’ and Kris says, ‘When it’s that easy, it’s a lot of fun. It’s so rewarding for me.’

Kris then asks Tristan how the kids are today, adding she saw pictures Khloe sent of him working out with the baby.

They show a video of both Khloe and Tristan working out on a half-ball, with baby Tatum watching them both, with Tristan saying they were doing a, ‘two-step’ on the ball.

Kris adds, ‘I can’t believe Khloe can keep up with you,’ as Tristan insists she is the, ‘best workout partner I’ve ever had.’

‘I have my boys, they’ll be puking on the side, ‘Oh, we gotta keep doing all these sets?’ Khloe, she like, gets right to it, she’s like, ‘give me more,’ Tristan explains.

Kris adds in confession, ‘We know Tristan has made some mistakes. I know he’s really sorry for the way that he hurt Khloe and I’m sure that he regrets those mistakes every single day.’

Back in the kitchen, Tristan says, ‘the kids are growing fast, loving the carpool in the morning, going to school.’

Kris adds in confession, ‘Really the most important thing for everyone right now is raising those kids, and I worry that Khloe, with this change of Tristan moving out, there is going to be a void there.’

Kris tells Tristan that, ‘kids remember all of that stuff,’ adding she gets too, ’emotionally invested, especially in True’s class. There was this one kid who was being so aggressive and I just wanted to say, ‘Listen you little…’ and then I went, ‘No, that’s probably not a good idea. That’s not your child.’ Your grandmother is a bully.’