The Cavs began with an offer to Tristan Thompson that was about $70MM and only moved up to $80MM roughly six weeks ago, Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer hears. Reports that they were close to an $80MM deal on the first day of free agency were off-base, according to Pluto, who recounts the motivations for all parties involved, including the promise that Dan Gilbert made to LeBron James that he would spent to help the team win.
Here’s more regarding Thompson and the Cavs:
- Cleveland slightly increased its offer in the days leading up to the deal, a source told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
- Neither side in the Thompson negotiations came out a clear winner as both player and team stand to reap value from the deal, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com.
- DeMarcus Cousins appeared to criticize Cleveland’s outlay, taking to Twitter with the message “How much???,” a public statement that was “thoroughly foolish” and “thoroughly revealing” as labor negotiations between owners and the players union loom, McMenamin argues in the same piece.
- Thompson’s new deal illustrates just how willing Gilbert and the Cavaliers organization is to spend money in pursuit of an NBA title, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes.
- With a new labor agreement on the horizon in 2017, there is an excellent chance that Cleveland will have the opportunity to waive Thompson via the amnesty provision if his contract turns out to be an albatross, writes Tom Ziller of SBNation. Ziller notes that amnesty clauses are generally a part of new labor agreements, which would provide the team a means to clear Thompson’s cap hit off its books, though it would still be responsible for any remaining salary owed to the power forward.
- Keeping James happy played a large role in the Cavs signing Thompson, which is an added benefit to retaining the young big man, since James has the ability to opt out of his deal after the season is completed, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com writes.
Must be nice getting paid like a top 30 player when you are barely in the top 300. Should have let him walk and signed a vet to the min. This guy is a tool who has no skills outside of rebounding and showed how little he cares about his team since he just held them hostage to get overpaid….the league is going in a bad direction. How many guys are gonna want more than TT money this year? Somebody is paying him that much and there is a solid 100 players that are clearly better than he is. Players that aren’t stars shouldn’t get this kind of money…….
If rebounding is that important to you, sign Reggie Evans and save yourself 81m, you’ll need it in the next few years to “keep Lebron happy” since he won’t sign a long term deal to give that feeling that he might leave at any time.