Tristan Thompson says he owns equity in Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind Claude, after getting access through Silicon Valley dinners held around NBA road games.
Thompson said Thursday on the Market Bubble podcast that the dinners were arranged “just with the NBA,” and that he attended a couple while playing against the Warriors. He said the founders walked him through the company’s AI roadmap, and he committed on the spot. “I was like, ‘Hey man, I like what you’re talking about. Here’s a check. I want in,'” Thompson said.
The investment was not just a personal bet. Thompson said he bought in through a special purpose vehicle that pooled money from fellow athletes, a structure that was then used to make a larger investment in the company. Anthropic is backed by Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. and is widely expected to go public in 2026.
Thompson framed the move as part of a broader wealth philosophy, pointing to Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal as models for athletes who turn early money into ownership and operating power. “Who’s going to take the bull by the horn and be that new young money athlete?” he said. The comment lands at a time when private AI companies are drawing unprecedented capital, and Anthropic was said to be valued at roughly $900 billion, a level that helps explain why athlete investors are hunting for ways in before any public listing.
The tension in Thompson’s account is that access came through a familiar sports circuit, but the opportunity itself sits in one of the most crowded and expensive corners of the market. Secondary trading in Anthropic shares has already emerged through platforms such as Forge Global and EquityZen, showing how tightly held the company has become even before a likely 2026 listing. For Thompson, the answer to how he got in is simple: he heard the pitch, liked it, and wrote the check.
