Tristan Thompson Awarded $53,000 After False Fatherhood Claim

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA — Boston Celtics player Tristan Thompson will receive just under $53,000 from a North Hollywood woman who falsely said he was the father of her 5-year-old son, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The amount is about half of the original $100,000 Thompson initially sought in the lawsuit. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Timothy Dillon said although the NBA player demonstrated he suffered a damaged reputation and experienced shame and hurt feelings, he did not show specific evidence of how Kimberly Alexander's actions impacted him in business.

"While (Thompson) testifies that he has not received an endorsement deal since January 2020, there is insufficient evidence that (Alexander's) statements are the causal link," Dillon wrote. "(Thompson) offers no evidence of any specific endorsement deal that he lost or any job opportunities he lost based on the conduct at issue in this action. Other factors may be reasons for the lack of endorsements."

Thompson's $53,000 is dependent upon Thompson's attorneys submitting a judgment and dismissing the unidentified "Doe" defendants remaining in the case.

The lawsuit was first filed in May 2020, then revised on February 24 with allegations of libel and invasion of privacy.

"For the five years prior to Ms. Alexander first publishing her defamatory statements falsely asserting that I am the father of her son ... I regularly received and accepted offers of endorsement deals worth an average of approximately $250,000 per year," Thompson stated in a sworn declaration in support of his default judgment request.

Thompson called Alexander a "wannabe social media influencer and pornographic model/performer who is so desperate to achieve her 15 minutes of fame that she recently fabricated a false claim that NBA star/(Boston Celtics) center/power forward Thompson is the father of her 5-year- old son."

According to the lawsuit, Alexander refused to accept a DNA test that said Thompson was not the father of her child, instead accusing him of being a "deadbeat" dad. Thompson said he agreed to a second DNA test, but Alexander refused.

"Had the DNA test results shown that Ms. Alexander's child was my son, I would have done the same for (her) child without hesitation," Thompson says.

Tristan Thompson has a 3-year-old daughter with Khloe Kardashian and a four year old son with Jordan Craig. He won a NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 draft, before signing with the Celtics in 2020.

City News Service contributed to this report.