LeBron James has remained a bystander in contract talks between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Tristan Thompson.
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Regardless, the fact remains that the Cleveland Cavaliers are bent on rebounding for the coming 2015-16 National Basketball Association season after falling short last season against the Golden State Warriors.
The report points out that if no deal is reached by the end of the week, Thompson may sign the Cavs’ one-year qualifying offer of $6.9 million to become an unrestricted free agent next year.
Thompson bet on himself previous year and it worked.
However, Thompson and his camp believe that they could get more than $16 million next summer. It’s believed one team Thompson would like to play for is the Toronto Raptors.
With training camp just a week away, there is very little optimism on either side of the negotiations and attentions are now turning toward what may happen should the sides not be able to meet any kind of deal.
While Thompson did prove to be an important part of this Cleveland team last season – especially as a fill-in for Kevin Love during the postseason – is he worth almost $19 million a year?
That’s a pretty sizable gap, amounting to $2.8 million per season over the life of the deal. He is a great piece and could be the difference maker in Cleveland winning a title should he leave at some point. Enes Kanter, on the other hand, is getting paid $17.5 million per year who picked a spot ahead of Thompson in the 2011 draft. But $94 million is too much. The Cavaliers offer is in their mind a fair-market contract.
Contract disputes between a player and their team usually come down to what seems like a pittance. Thompson was in Barnes’ shoes last summer, but now he’s a free agent.
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The big man likely will accept his one-year, $6.9 million qualifying offer if absolutely necessary, but Thompson’s agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN that his client won’t re-sign with Cleveland long term next offseason if that’s the case. And if he does that, well, he’ll just be betting on himself once again. He probably won’t get too close to 20 mil., but the beauty in the risk is that he could.
