SATURDAY, 2:02pm: The Cavs didn’t pull their offer, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who indicates it might not be worth precisely $80MM but is “in the ballpark” of that number, “give or take.”
FRIDAY, 7:59am: The Cavs withdrew their five-year, $80MM offer to Tristan Thompson when his qualifying offer expired on October 1st, as Salary Cap FAQ author Larry Coon hears and writes within a Basketball Insiders chat. The sides were reportedly close to a deal for those terms on the first day of free agency in July, but instead they’ve been locked into a stalemate ever since, with Thompson’s camp apparently insistent on a max deal of either five years or three.
Mark Termini, as he usually is for Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports, has been Thompson’s lead negotiator, Coon also hears, and as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports detailed a couple of weeks ago, Termini and the Cavs both have a history with holdouts. Thompson remains a restricted free agent, but only the Trail Blazers have the cap flexibility to sign him to a max offer sheet, and aside from them, only the Sixers can come close. The last day for Thompson to accept an offer sheet would be March 1st, if he still remains unsigned at that point. Should his free agency linger into next summer, the Cavaliers would have the opportunity to make a new qualifying offer by June 30th to continue his restricted free agency.
It’s unclear what sort of offer, if any, the Cavs have on the table for Thompson at this point. Cleveland is dealing with several injuries as the regular season draws near, including the continued absences of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, who were hurt during the playoffs. Iman Shumpert is in line to miss roughly the first two months of the regular season because of a wrist injury that happened shortly before the start of training camp. The Cavs are a league-worst 0-5 in the preseason, though LeBron James has only appeared in two of those games as part of an effort to limit his minutes.
Where do you think the Cavs and Thompson will go from here? Leave a comment to give us your thoughts.
Nothing like being greedy cuz of a good playoff run still only a rotational player and should get paid as such
good. a non-superstar demands superstar money, completely bails on his team, and now will have to deal with the scorn of his city as his teammates sit out injured. this whole thing was a joke from the beginning.
Thompson’s a great player and the Cavs need him but he doesn’t deserve the money he was asking. However I think the Warriors should swoop in and sign him. He’d be perfect coming off the bench for their small ball lineup.
and you think the Warriors are going to pay him a max deal, which would be $6 million more than Curry? lol
Hold up, TT has until March 1st to sign an offer sheet? So if he were to sign in February, he would receive the remainder of the qualifying offer for how many games were left in the 2015-2016 season!
If I were the Cavs, I would seriously be looking at doing a sign-and-trade with another team. Teams who cannot attract good FAs should be looking at this avenue to obtain a good player. To me, Portland is a great place to workout a trade.
And good job on the Cavs for not being ridiculous and overpaying TT for a great playoffs.
I think you may be confusing things. His qualifying offer is expired. Come next June, the Cavs can offer him another qualifying offer, thereby making him a restricted free agent again. So he cannot sign a qualifying offer until next off season. He can sign an offer sheet from another team, say the Trailblazers and say the 4 year max, until March 1st, at which point the Cavs could match the offer sheet and re-sign him for 4 years. The qualifying offer and the offer sheet are referring to different things.
I’ve said from the end of the season that the Cavs were perfectly willing to let the restricted free agency process run its course with TT. They made a respectful attempt for him to choose to avoid the process, however his representation didn’t seem to value his career opportunities with the Cavs. Restricted means restricted. Bad move for TT. Sit out and alienate the only fans that cared about you while you worked your way into even NBA relevance.
At the start of all this I thought this was just a young, naive rising star player with a greedy agent, but now its getting ridiculous. Being Canadian I would love to see Thompson on the Raptors but now I’m starting to question his character. Unless this is all a play on the Cavs to trade him to Toronto he needs to smarten up and be a team player.
On an unrelated note Go Blue Jays!
John Henson got 4 years/$44 million. He is better than Tristan Thompson
lol
Some team will severely overpay for him next season & the franchise will regret the signing before the all-star break
Who? Nobody is going to give him max money. Any GM that does that should be fired. No contending team is going to look at him and think “Hey know what we need? A guy who can’t space the floor, doesn’t play great D, and crashes the offensive boards every single time down the floor instead of running back on D in obvious situations.” Rich Paul can run his mouth all he wants, the offers are not going to be there, especially after this fiasco. Generally its teams towards the bottom of the rankings that will overpay a player like this and hope for the best but can you see Philly, Minnesota or Boston actually paying this guy and restricting their futures knowing what he brings to the table? Doubtful
I Think Cleveland Cavaliers And Minnesota Timberwolves
Should Trade Joe Harris And Anderson Varejão For Kevin Martin And Gorgui Dieng #CavsNation.Net
LOL. Yeah I’m sure Minnesota would jump at that. Might as well just trade Harris for Wiggins back right?
Right… But only after the Celtics trade Perry Jones back to the Thunder for Westbrook, Waiters, Durant, and their next five first rounders… But only if Durant signs a 5 yr extension for the minimum. LOL!
Tristan sign and get prepared for a championship ring. Most people would love the opportunity to play in the nba and make millions….don’t be selfish
Gotta pay or loose him and nobody will give him max. Thats the cavs price only ,I bet he stays one last year and leaves for less money which is the best thing for the cavs cuz he’s not worth that kinda money either
He was the only reason they scored inside when they were in trouble scoring outside period or they don’t go to the finals. They need him more than K.Love healthy CRAZY WHAT POEPLE DONT SEE