Tristan Thompson and the Cleveland Cavaliers are still at an impasse.
Various reports had the two sides hammering out an agreement, or a would-definitely-be agreement, at the start of free agency. No big deal. Thompson’s restricted free agency has always been considered something of a formality. He was never expected to test the market, and the Cavaliers were never expected to not meet his asking price.
Well, true to expectations, Thompson hasn’t gone out and signed an offer sheet. The Cavaliers, however, are still balking at his asking price. And that, in turn, makes you believe that if it weren’t for the Portland Trail Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers being the only teams with cap space, Thompson would now go out in search of that offer sheet.
Opening night is less than 40 days away, and there is still no resolution to Thompson’s restricted free agency in sight. Worse, the prospect of a deal being brokered at all is quickly becoming moot, according to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst:
With a week to go until the start of training camp, there remains a $14 million gap in contract talks between restricted free agent Tristan Thompson and the Cleveland Cavaliers, sources told ESPN.com.
The Cavs have held firm at an offer of five years and $80 million, with Thompson looking for a max contract of $94 million over the same span, sources said. The talks have been at a virtual standstill since early July, and there isn’t much optimism on either side.
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. His agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN last month that if Thompson signs the one-year qualifier, he will not re-sign with the Cavs long-term in 2016.
The Cavs’ position has been that they are offering a fair-market contract. The $16 million per year offer to Thompson, 24, would be in line with deals recently given to Draymond Green ($16.4 million annually) and Jonas Valanciunas ($16 million). It would be less than the $17.5 million per year that Enes Kanter, picked one spot ahead of Thompson in the 2011 draft, got from the Oklahoma City Thunder after he signed an offer sheet with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Thompson’s position is that he expects there to be a strong market for him next summer, when more than 20 teams are expected to have more than $20 million in salary-cap space. A young big man who hasn’t missed a game in more than three seasons, Thompson believes he will get multiple offers that will average $20 million per year.
It’s difficult to decide which side has more leverage at this point.
The Cavaliers’ championship hopes won’t be dashed without Thompson. They also have the comfort of knowing that he can’t leave now, so they get at least one more year out of him, before having to restructure their frontcourt rotation.
At the same time, the Cavaliers cannot spend this money on anyone else. And, more than those apparent max deals the 24-year-old thinks he’ll get next summer, that’s Thompson’s leverage. It doesn’t matter that he actually won’t be worth a max contract in 2016. Any team that pays him like a superstar, like a No. 1 option, will not get enough bang for its buck. That’s just a fact. But Thompson is worth more in Cleveland, because, barring another David West situation, in which a valuable vet leaves more than $10 million on the table to chase rings, the Cavaliers have no financially comparable way of replacing him.
Irrespective of where you’re standing, though, it’s easy to see this as a lose-lose proposition for the Cavaliers. Either they don’t up their ante, thus encouraging Thompson to sign his qualifying offer and leave Cleveland next summer, or they shell out max money, plus luxury taxes, for someone who, in a vacuum, isn’t worth it.
What a time to live in Cleveland.
