Cavs Notes: James, Thompson, Jefferson

LeBron James has ended his silence regarding Tristan Thompson‘s contract situation, posting a picture of the two of them on his Instagram account with the caption, “Get it done!!!!! Straight up. #MissMyBrother.”

Thompson let the deadline pass without signing his qualifying offer earlier this week, which reduces his options to signing a long-term deal with the Cavs, signing an offer sheet from another team or continuing to sit out. However, if he does sit out the season, he will remain a restricted free agent next offseason. It was reported on Friday that Thompson and his camp prefer a three-year max contract to the five-year max they sought most of the summer, but Cleveland is uninterested in such a proposal.

Here’s more from the reigning Eastern Conference champs:

• A five-year, $85MM deal would be a logical conclusion to Thompson’s stalemate with the Cavs, Tim Bontemps of The New York Post opines. Such a figure would allow Thompson to get a bigger contract than fellow restricted free agent power forward Draymond Green, who signed a five-year deal worth $82MM with Golden State this summer, while saving Cleveland a significant amount of money in luxury tax payments.
• Kevin Love‘s first year as a Cavalier didn’t go as smoothly as planned, but James believes he will thrive in Cleveland this season, Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. “I just think [Love’s] more comfortable in the situation that he’s in,” James said. “He’s got a year under his belt, he knows what he expects out of himself and what his teammates expect out of him. I expect big things from him this year with a year up under his belt.”
• New addition Richard Jefferson hopes to give the Cavs 10-12 minutes each night, but the injury to Shumpert could force him to play more, Vardon writes in the same piece. The veteran is just excited to play alongside the four-time MVP. “With LeBron and his versatility … when you have that piece, kind of like the queen in chess, that can do everything, you realize that, ‘Hey if I can play the four and LeBron can go to the two, somebody else can play the three or vice versa, it makes everyone’s job a lot easier,'” Jefferson said.